Phantom Prophecy
by JK rulez
Summary: Danny receives a disturbing message during a dream one night. While he convinces himself it’s nothing, one thing after another occurs in the Ghost Zone, leading to Danny’s biggest challenge ever. Finished at last!
1. Clash in the Cafeteria

Summary: Danny receives a disturbing message during a dream. While he convinces himself it's nothing, one thing after another occurs in the Ghost Zone, leading to Danny's biggest challenge ever.

_Hello again, everybody! JK rulez is back with another fanfic! I'm hoping for this to be a long one, but we'll see. I had a severe case of writer's block for a while after finishing my "The Phantom Apprentice" trilogy. In truth, I was actually thinking of a story like this before I started the trilogy, but it never got off the ground. Until now._

_I bring you "Phantom Prophecy"! Let's get it started! I don't own Danny Phantom._

**Phantom Prophecy**

**Chapter One: Clash in the Cafeteria**

The Ghost Zone was an endless realm. Thousands of miles of ectoplasmic energy where scattered doors lay with thousands of ghosts inside or outside of them, all doing one thing or another.

For now, inside one two-story tower with a few large working cogs floating on the outside of it, one ancient ghost was going about his business as usual. He wore a blue-purple cloak and his torso had what looked like a grandfather clock inside. He had an elderly bony structure, red eyes, one with a scar, and he also held a tall staff with a small clock at the top of it. This was Clockwork, the master of time.

As he watched a screen in front of him playing current events at the location of his choosing, he was casually adjusting his staff.

Clockwork said calmly and quietly, "Everything running smooth, as per usual. The young ghost child is going on without any trouble, just as I saw it would."

He then turned his attention to another screen, with a rather old-looking paper and writing on it. As he read the writing to himself, he frowned.

Without a word, he turned around to a desk at the back of the room. As he morphed into the form of a small child, he spotted something sitting on top of the desk. It was a thermos, a Fenton Thermos to be precise, that had been given to him by the ghost child he had just referred to.

The evil that lurked inside, unable to escape, but still evil nonetheless.

As what was inside the thermos banged around in its usual attempt at freedom, Clockwork smiled and shook his head, "Always a stubborn one. Just like his parents. Too bad for him that it hasn't paid off."

He became an adult as he turned away from the ghost that struggled inside the beaten-up thermos and sighed.

"For now."

Then he stared back to the old paper and began to do a lot of thinking.

* * *

_(He's a Phantom)_

_(Danny Phantom, Phantom, Phantom)_

_**Young Danny Phantom, he was just fourteen  
When his parents built a very strange machine  
It was designed to view a world unseen**_

_(He's gonna catch 'em all 'cause he's Danny Phantom)_

_**When it didn't quite work, his folks, they just quit  
But then Danny took a look inside of it  
There was a great big flash, everything just changed  
His molecules got all rearranged**_

_(Phantom, Phantom)_

_**When he first woke up, he realized  
He had snow-white hair and glowing green eyes  
He could walk through walls, disappear and fly  
He was much more unique than the other guys**_

_**And it was then that he knew what he had to do  
He had to stop all the ghosts that were coming through  
He's here to fight for me and you**_

_(He's gonna catch 'em all 'cause he's Danny Phantom)  
(He's gonna catch 'em all 'cause he's Danny Phantom)_

_**Gonna catch 'em all 'cause he's **(whisper) Danny Phantom

* * *

_

Inside the crowded cafeteria of Casper High School, a group of three sat at one table, deep in conversation.

"I am not going to water that stupid vegetable garden tomorrow!" shouted Tucker Foley irritably.

Samantha (Sam) Manson retorted, "Tucker, chill out! It's not like I'm making you eat the vegetables or anything."

"Well, I also wouldn't want to waste Saturday doing gardening when we could be hitting the mall or catching a movie."

Danny Fenton nodded as he ate one of his fries, "I'm gonna have to agree with Tucker on that one."

Sam sighed, "Fine. I'll do it myself. More likely than not you'll have ghost trouble anyway."

"Probably," Danny responded, "There have been more ghost attacks than what I'd like. Of course, since what I'd like is none, that's not saying much."

The three of them laughed at Danny's comment.

Of course, ghosts did take an important part in their lives, mostly Danny's. An accident in his parents' ghost portal less than a year ago had left Danny with ghost powers. With his powers developing slowly, he used them to combat the evil ghosts that had escaped into Amity Park through the portal.

And more ghosts had appeared than usual lately. During the last week, Skulker had shown up twice, Johnny 13 and Kitty had been seen riding around town a few times, Ember had shown herself more than once, and the always annoying Box Ghost showed up four times. Fortunately, Vlad hadn't shown, and Danny hoped it stayed that way. Although Danny was able to capture them in the Fenton Thermos for the most part, it still got quite nerve-wracking.

The constant attacks were unfortunate for Danny, Sam, and Tucker, who had begun their sophomore year at Casper High nearly a month ago after turning fifteen over the summer. Homework had been loaded on them, and it proved very tough for them to balance the ghost attacks and the homework, which was a good deal more difficult than last year's.

In response to Danny, Tucker said, "All you really need now is someone like Spectra blasting all the food in here. Actually…" He took a look at the food being served, "That _is_ what you really need now."

They chuckled again, but the chuckles stopped when Danny gasped as he a bluish mist came from his mouth, sending his body cold.

"Maybe that's what I'm gonna get," Danny stated.

Sam turned to Tucker and said, "Did you acquire psychic powers and I didn't know about it?"

Tucker threw his arms out, looking slightly nervous at the thought of having psychic powers, "Why would it be me? Danny's the superhero."

Just then, something burst through the wall, sending rock and rubble flying everywhere, leaving the students ducking for cover.

In the space in the wall stood the Ghost Zone's warden, Walker, and a number of his henchmen floating behind him.

Seeing that he didn't have psychic powers after all, Tucker sighed, "Phew. I mean, aaah!"

Walker called out in a sing-song voice, "Oh, ghost boy? Come out, come out, wherever you are!"

"You want me?" Danny said intensely as he ducked under the table. At this, a ring appeared at his waist, and it split into two rings. One went up, and another went down. His red-and-white shirt and jeans were replaced with a black suit with a white belt. On his chest was a D with a P inside. His sneakers became white boots, white gloves appeared on his hands, his hair changed from raven-black to snow-white, and his eyes changed from blue to glowing green.

Danny Phantom then said, "You got me."

He flew out from under the table into Walker's line of sight, as the students ran away screaming.

Walker laughed, "It's been a long time, punk. Been longing for the safety of my prison, have you?"

Danny spat back, "More like longing for the safety from that rancid breath of yours. You still haven't gotten any mouthwash?"

Walker growled at being insulted, "Get him!"

His guards grunted as they fired their nightsticks at Danny. Danny quickly flew up and dodged the blasts. He then fired his own ghost ray, sending his enemies scattering across the cafeteria.

Seeing his opportunity to strike as he had at least gotten them rattled a little bit, Danny flew through the air and clocked one guard right in the face. Another guard flew at him from behind and tried to grab him, but he quickly swept his leg through him, tripping him up. He then fired a ghost ray at another guard, knocking him down.

Walker himself flew at Danny from above, but Danny quickly sent a ball of energy up at him. It missed by inches and Walker gave Danny a hard kick, sending the ghost boy flat on his back.

As more nightsticks were fired, Danny quickly projected a dome. The blasts sent from the nightsticks hit the dome and made no impact on him.

Danny then barked as he flew back upward, "Why are you guys here?"

Walker answered, "To take you back where you belong, kid. You'd probably be better off there, anyway."

"Not a chance, creep," Danny spat back. He wished he had an explanation for the increased ghost activity, but settled with what he had.

Danny fired a ghost ray from one hand, then the other. One grazed one guard and stunned him while the other missed everything. Another nightstick was fired, but Danny this time picked up a chair lying on the ground. He swung it at the blast like a baseball bat. It knocked the blast back at the guard. It then struck him and handcuffs appeared on him, trapping his hands.

Danny held up the chair with a smirk and called out, "Who wants this next?"

Without warning, though, a pink blast suddenly soared over his head from behind him, and a familiar voice cried, "How would you like this instead?"

Danny spun around at the sound of the voice.

"Uh oh."

"'Uh oh' is right," spat the person angrily.

Danny saw that the voice had come from a lone figure standing on top of what looked like a pointed surfboard in the air. It was red with black markings, much like the person's costume. Through the face shield, Danny saw a look of fury that he had come to recognize from this person.

"Valerie," Danny said quietly.

"Right on, ghost," Valerie Gray responded as she pulled out a pair of small rifles and held them in both hands. She then started firing at him, leaving Danny to fly around the shots. Luckily for him, the shots struck several of Walker's guards, dazing them for a minute.

Danny, obviously annoyed at Valerie's interference, yelled, "Can we please do this later? I'm right in the middle of something!"

She responded, "Yeah, those are words I'd expect from scum like you."

And before Danny could say anything more, she pulled out a number of sparkling discs and threw them at Danny. He quickly dodged the assaults before one hit him in the leg, sending pain through him.

He looked up and saw Valerie flying on her jet board straight at him. He quickly dropped down, sending Valerie flying over him. He then threw a ball of energy at the board and it hit, sending her crashing into a few guards at once, along with Walker. They all went crashing down.

Seeing a quick opening, Danny flew over and captured a few ghosts quickly using the Fenton Thermos.

Seeing this, Valerie cried, "Hey! That's a Fenton Thermos! Where did you get that?"

Danny snorted, "Yeah, like I'm gonna tell you."

"You'd better!" she shouted as she pulled out her ecto-grenade launcher and fired. Danny flew out of the way and the blast made a huge hole in the wall instead.

Seeing the hole, Danny said, "And it looks like you'd better pay for that damage."

Valerie didn't respond. She just snarled furiously at being told off by her arch-enemy as she quickly flew at Danny, firing again.

Again, Danny dodged the attack, quickly firing a ghost ray below Valerie at Walker, hitting him.

"Quit that!" Valerie yelled irritably, "Stop being a coward and fight me! Forget those freaks!"

Danny sighed. Valerie could be _so_ obsessive at times.

"I don't want to fight you! No good ever comes out of it for either of us."

"Yeah, that's a laugh. You just do whatever you want. I'm the one who always pays for your selfishness."

Danny had no time to respond as Valerie pulled out another rifle and shot at him. A pink ray came from the rifle and hit him in the chest, leaving him panting for a few seconds.

Valerie snarled, "Don't tell me you're giving up already."

"Giving up from what? I'm fighting them, not you!"

He then quickly flew back towards the remaining guards on the other side of the room. Valerie looked furious at being blown off like that and followed.

Danny gave one guard an uppercut before kicking another guard from the side. He was then given a punch from a third guard and it hit his stomach, leaving him wheezing for just a moment.

Seeing Valerie flying at him, Danny fired a ghost ray, wanting to get rid of the rest of the guards quickly. It hit Valerie and knocked her off of her jet board.

Danny turned back and sucked a few more guards into the thermos until only two remained, plus Walker.

But he was quickly ambushed from behind as Valerie rammed her jet board right into the back of his head. He fell and landed flat on his face.

Valerie circled back around and fired again from her ecto-grenade launcher at the fallen ghost boy. Thinking fast, Danny projected a shield with his hands. The blast bounced off the shield and shot back upward.

It struck one of the ceiling lights and it broke off. It immediately fell down…right towards Tucker and Sam.

Danny shouted fearfully, "Tucker! Sam!"

_Oh ho, what a battle to start things off! Just a fun and cool little action scene to start things off, I thought. But I will tell you this: Valerie does play a key role in this fic._

_Anyway, what happens to Danny's best buds? Do they get crushed, or do they get rescued? And also, what is on Clockwork's mind right now? Find out in Chapter 2! Find out the former then, at least. R/R!_


	2. My Enemy and My Friend

_Hello, all! I have to say, I was very pleased with how many reviews I received to start this story off. I would've updated sooner, but I couldn't find much time. And just so you all know, this fic does not follow from any of my other fanfics, and that includes "The Phantom Apprentice" trilogy. I'm just having it be sophomore year for the trio because I want it to follow from "Reality Trip", which had the end of the school year for them._

_Now that all that's out of the way, here's Chapter 2! Will Danny's pals be crushed by the ceiling light?_

**Phantom Prophecy**

**Chapter Two: My Enemy and My Friend**

Without hesitation, Danny abandoned the battle and flew towards Tucker and Sam, who could only look up at the falling light in terror.

He quickly grabbed Tucker's arm with one hand and Sam's arm with his other. Without slowing down his flight, he flew both of them away, just before the light crashed to the ground less than a second later.

Danny set them down near the wall, sighing in relief, "Phew. That was close."

Tucker smiled, "Thanks, dude. Since you saved us, maybe Valerie will reconsider her opinions on you."

Just then, a pink beam struck Danny in the back, knocking him down to the ground.

Sam then said sardonically, "Or maybe she won't."

Danny grumbled, "Oh, why is she so stubborn?"

He then flew back up into the air, where Valerie fired another pink beam from her wrist. Danny avoided the assault and responded by firing a ghost ray. Valerie quickly swerved her jet board to dodge that attack and it sailed over her shoulder.

Down on the ground, Walker looked annoyed as he spat, "I'm not letting that little brat get that ghost child." He then flew towards Valerie from behind her.

Seeing this, Danny shouted, "Valerie, look out!"

And as he did this, he also flew towards Valerie in front of her and grabbed her around her arms. She struggled in protest, but Danny quickly drove her down to the ground and away from Walker, where he set her down gently.

She then spat, "Let go of me, spook!"

Danny sighed in frustration, "I hate when she's like this."

He let go of Valerie and flew at Walker, giving him a punch in the face. Valerie then fired a rifle at Danny from behind, but he saw it just in the nick of time and dodged the attack. The shot hit Walker instead, driving him even further backward.

Danny admitted, "But she can be a help."

Not hearing him, Valerie fired from her ecto-grenade launcher again. Danny quickly flew up and the blast passed under him, nearly hitting a few students who were still in the cafeteria for some reason.

Danny called out, "Careful! Someone might get hurt!"

Valerie retorted, "Then care to explain why _you_ were attacking in here?"

"Hello! They attacked me! I was just fighting back, including when you came in!"

"Excuses, excuses!" Valerie snapped, but she had to admit that he did have a point. With all the shots the both of them were firing everywhere, it was a surprise that none of the kids still in the lunchroom had been injured. Sam and Tucker had already just narrowly escaped being crushed by that ceiling light.

Danny flew to the two remaining guards and quickly trapped them in the thermos. After about a minute of hesitation, Valerie then flew back towards Danny in an attempt to ram into him.

Thinking fast, Danny charged a ghost ray in his hand. But he didn't fire it. Instead, he let it shine brighter and brighter. It looked something like headlights from a car when it was being driven right towards you. Finally, everyone was forced to look away as the light was nearly blinding them.

As they looked away, there was a flash, and Danny Fenton dropped from the light. Spotting Walker on the ground, he quickly sucked the screaming warden into the Fenton Thermos, leaving no more in the cafeteria.

As everyone rubbed their eyes, Valerie muttered angrily, "He ran away. How typical of him." She then spotted Danny trapping Walker and said quietly to herself, "Where did Danny come from? And how did he get a thermos?"

Without another word, she flew out of the cafeteria.

Danny put the thermos away as he walked back over to Sam and Tucker.

He whispered to them, "Did anyone see me transform?"

Tucker answered, "Probably not. The light was too bright for anyone to see. They all looked away, and that included us."

Sam nodded in agreement, and then asked Danny worriedly, "Are you okay? You took some pretty nasty hits out there."

Danny replied nonchalantly, "Ah, I'm alright. Nothing out of the ordinary."

Tucker looked around the cafeteria, "Maybe not for you, but the lunchroom has been totaled. Don't think they're letting school continue for today."

"Well, it's good the food didn't get destroyed. Wait, what am I thinking? It's bad the food didn't get destroyed."

They all chuckled as they walked out of the cafeteria.

* * *

Indeed, school was called off for the rest of the day. With nothing else to do, the trio decided to stop by Nasty Burger for a bite to eat. 

"Two jumbo bacon-and-cheese nasty burgers with a side of chicken fries, and a root beer," Tucker said to the pretty cashier, and then added with a flirty smile, "And maybe your phone number as well."

She glared at him and responded, "That will be $8.43, sir."

As they stood behind Tucker waiting to order, Sam said to Danny, "You'd think that after a million failures, he'd have learned by now."

Danny scoffed, "And you guys think _I'm_ stubborn."

While Tucker walked away sulking, Danny walked up to the cashier, only to see that she had left, and had now been replaced by a familiar black girl with curly black hair and a standard Nasty Burger uniform.

Valerie smiled, "Hey, Danny."

In surprise, Danny answered with a smile of his own while Sam rolled her eyes behind him, "Oh, hi, Val. What's up?"

"Ah, nothing much." Her voice grew cold as she added, "Unless you count that ghost boy tearing up the cafeteria today."

Trying to play along, Danny sputtered nervously to his would've-been-girlfriend, feeling very awkward as he did so, "Oh, uh, yeah. He really, uh…trashed the place."

Valerie suddenly regained her happy tone as she asked, "So how have you been?"

"Well, I've just…"

Fortunately, Danny was saved the trouble of a continued awkward talk as a hard voice rang out from the back room, "Gray! You'd better not be slacking off!"

Valerie called back to the voice nervously, "Oh, no, sir! I'm working!"

She then sighed as she asked Danny, "So what'll it be?"

"Just a regular nasty burger and fries will be fine."

She added up the price and said, "$4.13."

Danny paid with a five and got his change, and then said, "I'll see you around, Val."

She smiled, "Yep. See ya, Danny."

Danny walked off, distinctively hearing Valerie say, "Sam," followed by Sam saying, "Valerie," both voices in relatively cool tones.

As he waited for his order to arrive, Tucker said while standing next to him, "Not exactly the conversation you would prefer with her, was it?"

Danny scoffed, "Not really."

He then gasped as his ghost sense went off once again.

Seeing this, Tucker asked him, "Ghost time?"

Danny nodded, "Ghost time."

"Does this mean I won't get my order?"

The two of them then heard a loud whoosh. They turned to the kitchen and saw that the burgers were rotating around in a circular motion, with more burgers appearing by the second.

Just as what had occurred during Pariah's siege months ago, they finally formed into a large monster, made entirely of meat.

Danny said in awe as the people started screaming, "I'm getting a serious déjà vu vibe here."

"Not only that," said Tucker, "But this looks awfully familiar."

Danny gave him a scowl and then ran off to the bathroom, depositing a dime before racing inside. One flash later, Danny Phantom flew out of the bathroom through the wall and towards the meat-covered Lunch Lady Ghost.

She screamed, "Fear my high cholesterol of doom!"

With that she sent a shot of beef, sausages, and steak straight at Danny. He quickly put up a dome and the meat flew all around it, leaving him unscathed.

He then spoke with a smirk, "Like I should ever fear you!"

"You should probably fear _me_ instead!" another voice rang out that took Danny no time to recognize.

He turned and once again saw Valerie the ghost hunter on her jet board, armed with her ecto-grenade launcher.

"Back for more, Phantom?" she snapped.

She then charged straight at Danny, but he quickly flew out of the way. The Lunch Lady took a swipe with her huge right arm and it struck Valerie, knocking her down.

Danny quickly muttered so no one could hear, "Just five minutes ago, she was having a friendly chat with me, and now, she's trying to kill me."

He then fired a ball of energy at the Lunch Lady, but she quickly grabbed Valerie on the ground and held her in front of the energy ball. It ended up hitting her instead!

Danny gasped, "Oh, man!"

The Lunch Lady then snapped, "Ha! You can't hit me without hitting her, can you, kid?"

Knowing Valerie, Danny was certain she thought he was hitting her on purpose. And sure enough…

"You're gonna pay for that, ghost!" Valerie yelled at him.

Danny ignored her and flew up toward the Lunch Lady's head, trying to kick it. But she quickly pulled Valerie up in front of her head, shielding herself from Danny's attempted assault.

He quickly pulled his foot back, not wanting to strike Valerie again. Instead he spat at the Lunch Lady, "Using a girl as a shield? Talk about cowardly."

As she watched this, Valerie couldn't help but think, _Why isn't he hitting me? He should be attacking me, but why is he only attacking this freak?_

The Lunch Lady snarled furiously as she ran at Danny and tried to stomp on her. Thinking fast, Danny flew away from her foot and flew around to the Lunch Lady's back.

Now in a position where she couldn't shield herself with Valerie, Danny fired a ghost ray in the middle of the Lunch Lady's back. It struck gold and a bunch of meat started falling off.

The Lunch Lady turned around and tried to grab Danny with her free hand, but Danny kicked the hand, knocking more meat off. He then flew at 112 miles per hour to her other hand, where he grabbed Valerie just like at school earlier and then phased her out of the ghost's grip, where he then flew her down to the ground.

This time, Valerie said nothing. She just watched as Danny flew back up and fired a ghost ray at the Lunch Lady with a look of intensity in his eyes.

As more meat fell, Valerie quickly shook off her look of astonishment and flew towards Danny. Danny quickly saw her coming and ducked. Valerie passed right over him.

Seeing she was heading right towards the Lunch Lady, she shot a pair of pink beams from her wrists. They both struck her and she stumbled backward.

Danny saw this and said, "So, what? You're helping me?"

Valerie snapped, "She was in my way. You're next."

Danny said nothing as Valerie pulled out a few more discs and threw them at the Lunch Lady. They crashed into her and sparks flew everywhere as the meat fell apart.

She was dazed as Valerie suddenly stuck her arms out. A bright flash appeared where her arms were, and then a blade glowing bright red took shape.

Danny gasped in awe at the new weapon that had just appeared.

Seeing Danny's look of amazement, Valerie said simply, "Just learned that trick. Cool, huh?"

Valerie held the blade like a pro as she shot towards the Lunch Lady. She swung the blade all the way around her head, and then swung it forward with a loud grunt.

_**SLASH!**_

The monster of meat broke apart completely, leaving the original Lunch Lady on her knees in pain.

Danny then seized his own chance and flew to the Lunch Lady, pulling out the Fenton Thermos and sucking her inside.

Valerie then aimed her ecto-grenade launcher at him and said, "Now it's your turn, spook."

"Not today!" Danny said as he phased through the ground and out of sight.

"Hey!" Valerie barked in anger.

She then grumbled, "Ran away again. Coward."

But at the same time, she thought, _But why did he save me like that? Why didn't he attack when that ghost was holding me in front of him? And what happened to Danny during that time? And why did that jerk have a Fenton Thermos?_

With a sigh, she flew away from the restaurant's wreckage.

* * *

Clockwork smiled as he watched the screen which showed the concluded battle in front of him. 

"Those two are a great team. Pity that they often point their weapons at each other."

His smile slowly faded as he once again turned back to the paper on the other screen.

He knew there was a chance that whatever was written on this piece may or may not happen. Until then, no one had to know what it read.

Clockwork was so very caught up in this paper that he didn't notice that on the desk on the other side of the room, the thermos that Danny had given to him months ago was shaking around as it always did.

It wouldn't concern him if he did see it shaking, but if something happened that was out of the ordinary, that would probably get him a little worried.

And he might have been worried if he had seen the very small but very visible crack appear between the cap of the thermos and the thermos itself, while a very faint cackling could be heard from deep within.

_Hmm…that's all for now! Boy, another unusually long chapter from me. Usually only a few of my chapters crack 2000 words, and both chapters in this story have done so._

_Anyway, could Valerie be possibly having second thoughts on how she regards her teen nemesis? And what trouble could possibly be lurking within the master of time's lair? Chapter 3 is coming soon! R/R!_


	3. Tussle Between Teens

_Hi, guys! I must say that after so many reviews following Chapter 1, I was very disappointed that I only got 2 following Chapter 2. Then more stuff came up and I couldn't find time to write this. That explains the wait we've gotten for Chapter 3._

_Wait's over! Here's Chapter 3 now!_

**Phantom Prophecy**

**Chapter Three: Tussle Between Teens**

The next day was Saturday, and at this moment, in the early evening, Sam and Tucker sat with Danny on the couch in his living room, watching _The Cursed Necklace._

Unfortunately for them, the movie wasn't that great. About halfway into it, they decided to start up a little chat to pass the time.

"Any ghost trouble today?" Sam asked Danny. She had spent a bit of her day watering that vegetable garden, so Danny and Tucker had spent that time bowling.

Danny answered, "Nope."

Tucker then added, "But he did kick my butt in bowling. Again."

Danny ignored him and stated, "And we saw Valerie while we were there."

Sam raised her eyebrows at being told this. She then asked him, "Did you guys talk with her at all?"

"Nah," Danny responded with a shake of his head, "All she did was wave. She was there bowling with Star, so she didn't really have time to talk."

Tucker asked Sam, "Why do you ask?"

Sam answered with a shrug, "I'm just a little concerned. The two fights the two of you had yesterday…not pretty."

Danny said nonchalantly, "Relax, Sam. As long as she doesn't know I'm Danny Phantom, there's nothing I have to worry about."

"Yeah, well even when she doesn't know you're Danny Phantom, it's been something of a hassle, hasn't it?"

Danny hesitated, and then replied, "Something like that. But it could be worse."

Tucker questioned, "Worse than having her turn her guns on you every time she sees you as a ghost?"

Danny had no response for that. Sure, he liked Valerie, and vice versa, but living as the person whom she liked as well as the ghost whom she hated had proven to be very complicated, especially back when they were so close to actually going out.

Sam and Tucker had a point, and he knew that. He didn't blame them for looking out for him, and any time she sees him as a ghost, she's gonna come flying with her rifles blazing.

Maybe he could get her to trust him? Danny thought Valerie may have been having second thoughts during their fight at the Nasty Burger yesterday. But from previous experiences at trying to sway her to be on his side, that seemed as likely as man being able to land on Jupiter and survive.

Without another word, Danny turned to focus his attention back on the rather lackluster movie.

* * *

After breakfast the next morning, Danny was sitting in the living room by himself, waiting for Sam and Tucker to arrive so they could go for a walk to the park. 

"Not there, Jack! Put that wire over here."

"Got it, sweetie. But where's that welder? I can't find that welder!"

"It's in your hand, Jack."

"Oh. Thanks, Maddie."

The noises Danny heard were definitely his parents, and they were coming from the basement.

Knowing his friends wouldn't arrive for another ten minutes, the curious Danny walked down the stairs and into the basement, which contained his parents' laboratory. In one corner stood the Ghost Portal, the very thing that had caused Danny to become half-ghost. His parents were working on some small metal objects near the portal that Danny did not recognize.

He greeted them, "Hey, Mom. Dad. What are you guys working on?"

Jack wiped a bead of sweat off his head and answered, "Well, son, we're working on a new project."

Maddie then stated, "We're calling it the Fenton Patch."

Danny looked to what they were working on and saw a bunch of electrical circuits and sparkling pieces of metal.

He asked incredulously, "Which part is the patch?"

Jack answered, "Well, Danny, we haven't put it together yet. But when it's done, it will…eh…" He trailed off, scratching his chin.

Maddie sighed, "It should be able to enhance someone's power. Kind of like a compact version of our old ecto-skeleton, but hopefully it won't be potentially fatal when someone uses it."

"Good to know," Danny said, knowing something that could enhance his power might come in handy.

"Hey, Danny! You here?"

Danny recognized Sam's voice and called up to her, "I'm down here! I'll be right up, guys!"

He then turned to his parents and said, "I'm going out. Be back in a while."

"Alright, Danny," Maddie said as she and her husband returned to her work, "No, Jack, that goes here."

* * *

"Did you guys finish that English report Lancer assigned us last week?" Danny asked as they walked down the street. Unluckily for them, Mr. Lancer also taught sophomore English as well as freshman English during different periods, and they were in his fourth period class this year. They had a report on the short story "Twelve Angry Men" due Monday. 

Tucker shook his head, "Not me, man. I still don't get the part where he wants us to describe Juror 10's animosity towards the convict."

Sam sighs, "Tuck, it's easy. The guy's a racist. He hates all of the guy's kind."

"Then why should he be a juror in the first place? They shouldn't allow…"

"Tell the author that, Tucker!"

Danny then spoke, "Well, I'm more confused as to why Juror 9…"

He was cut off as his ghost sense went off.

He sighed, "Well, knew this couldn't last forever."

From a building in front of them, they saw as two green ghostly creatures flew out, cackling wildly.

Danny looked intense as he barked, "Going ghost!"

In a flash, Danny's human clothing vanished, replaced by his trademark Danny Phantom form.

As he flew after the ghosts, he said with a smirk, "Don't count on getting very far, guys."

They both flew off in the other direction while Amity Park's ghost boy flew after them, down the streets and deeper into the town. After about a minute, Danny fired a ghost ray at them, but it missed.

The ghosts then shot straight up into the air. Danny quickly flew up after them, picking up speed as well. He was finally close enough to them and tried to punch them, but he missed.

"Man," Danny grunted, "These things are fast."

Danny watched as they started flying back down again. Frustrated as though this were just a game of tag, he stopped flying, and then fired another ghost ray. Again they flew out of the way, but the ray kept going until it struck a car, breaking it apart and causing smoke to rise from it.

"I saw that, spook!" a voice rang out.

Danny groaned and held his head, "Oh, not again."

He then turned to his right and saw the ghost hunter Valerie flying right at him.

"You are _so_ busted," she spat, obviously seeing Danny blast that car, but unfortunately not seeing the ghosts that Danny had been aiming for.

"Wait!" Danny said quickly, "I wasn't trying to hit that car! I was trying to hit those…" He turned around and tried to point to the pair of ghosts he was shooting for, but they were nowhere in sight.

Valerie then snapped, "Enough already! I've had it with your lies and your excuses!"

And before Danny could respond, she fired at him with her ecto-grenade launcher. Danny quickly dodged the attack and then threw a ball of energy at her. Valerie quickly jumped up and off her jet board, the ball passed between her and the board, and then she landed back on the board.

Danny grimaced at the notion that nothing would distract her from trying to eliminate him this time. No other ghosts were around during this battle.

Valerie fired a red beam from another rifle and this time it hit him, knocking him for a loop through the air.

While he was dazed, she formed the blade in her hands using the suit and swung it at him in an attempt to sear his head clean off.

Danny had now recovered just in time to see the blade being swung. As quick as he could, he ducked his head out of the way. The blade missed his neck but instead left a long cut on his face, leaving green blood to run freely down it and onto his collar.

Valerie then sneered, "That's just a sample of what your end is gonna be like, Phantom."

Danny quickly muttered to himself, "Jeez, this is the girl I spent a candlelight dinner with a few months ago?"

He then flew straight at Valerie and tried to kick her. Again she swung her blade at him, but Danny quickly dropped down lower, leaving the blade to pass over him. He then fired a ghost ray from below, striking the bottom of her jet board and damaging it just a bit.

Unfazed, Valerie through a few of her sparkling discs at him. Danny dodged two, but a third hit him and sent an electric shock right through him, leaving him to scream in pain.

When the pain receded, Danny hung in the air, weakened by the shock.

"Fight back!" Valerie yelled at him, "Fight like a ghost!"

_If only she knew,_ Danny couldn't help but think as he flew up into the air with his back facing Valerie. She fired at him, but Danny diverted his flight pattern so he was flying directly above her, with his back facing the ground.

He then tilted his head back so Valerie was in his sights, and then swung his arms down and fired a ghost ray from both hands.

Valerie had no time to dodge as the blasts struck her and knocked her off her jet board, sending her spiraling toward the ground.

Danny gasped at seeing this, but was a bit relieved upon hearing a computerized voice from the jet board, "Piloting program initiated."

By itself, the board flew down towards Valerie to catch her. It hurriedly flew under Valerie and then caught her just a few feet before she hit pavement.

Valerie looked a little rattled at almost falling to her death but quickly regained her composure and shot back towards Danny like a bullet and with a blazing look in her eyes.

Danny quickly projected a dome around himself to shield himself. But the dome fit right in the center of the U-shaped space at the front end of the board, resulting in Danny being stuck. Although Danny didn't feel anything, the board began to push the dome forward. She then turned the board down to the ground. With nothing else to do, Danny braced for impact.

_**BASH!**_

Both of them crashed into the street, snarling up the midday traffic and forming a pit that Danny was lying in. The board and Valerie went flying off in a different direction.

With his dome pretty much obliterated, Danny slowly got up to his feet. He had definitely taken the most damage from that attack, and was showing his pain and weakened energy. The cut on his face was still bleeding, although not as fast as before, and he had acquired some new bruises.

As Valerie flew back towards him, a ring started to form at his waist.

He gasped at seeing this and concentrated desperately, _No. Don't change back._

Valerie stopped in front of him and pointed her wrist laser at him.

"Wait!" Danny cried as the ring disappeared, "Please don't…"

"I've done my waiting," Valerie said coldly as the laser charged energy, "Goodbye, ghost boy."

"NO!"

_Another nice chapter, if I do say so myself. Not important, but I put "Twelve Angry Men" for their report because it was one of the stories I read as a sophomore in English last year and I really liked it. Anyway, where is Danny to go now? He looks to weak to fight back right now, so will he make it out of this? Find out in Chapter 4!_

_On another note, if you check YTV . com, you'll find an episode summary for a Season 3 episode of DP called "Torrent of Terror"! Sounds like a good one to me. Until then, R/R!_


	4. The Dream

_Hello, all. Everything okay? I've just been kind of so-so lately, just because I've gotten so little reviews as of late. It's going like my last fanfic, "Never Easy". Lot of reviews to start off, then only a few per chapter afterwards. I hope it'll pick up, because then I can update faster._

_On another note, a Danny Phantom half-hour special entitled "Urban Jungle" is set to air October 9th. Check cabletvtalk . com for the summary; it sounds like a real good one._

_Here's Chapter 4! What is Danny to do?_

**Phantom Prophecy**

**Chapter Four: The Dream**

"Goodbye ghost boy," Valerie said with a low snarl to Danny Phantom, as the laser on her wrist charged with energy.

"NO!"

This scream had rung out, but neither Danny nor Valerie had screamed it. Both of them turned in the same direction in time to see a familiar Goth girl and black-skinned boy in a beret in glasses pounce on top of Valerie, knocking her down. Her laser fired as she fell, zooming far past Danny and hitting a tree, smashing it to pieces.

Danny yelled in surprise, "Sam! Tucker!"

"Get off me!" Valerie shouted as she tried to throw Sam and Tucker, who were now pinning her against the ground, off her. But they both held tightly.

Sam grunted, "Danny…Run!"

Hesitant, Danny spoke, "But you guys…"

"NOW!"

Danny did as he was told and flew off in the other direction, flying straight into an alley and out of sight.

Valerie grunted, "Get…off!" She was finally able to slip out of Tucker's grip on her legs and Sam's hold on her arms, and then started to fly off again on her jet board towards where Danny had flown off to.

She searched the alley, with her ecto-grenade launcher in her arms, ready to fire at the first sight of movement from her prey. When the visor in her see-through mask didn't pick up any ghosts throughout, she flew back out of the alley with a frustrated sigh.

As she exited, she looked down to where she had seen Sam and Tucker, and she saw, in surprise, that Danny Fenton was with them. And he had the same cut on his face that the ghost boy had!

She said quietly to herself, "Where did he…how did he…and why did they…and what happened to…oh, this is just so confusing."

Without another word, she took off again into the air towards her apartment in Elmerton.

* * *

"Dude, you okay?" Tucker asked Danny as they sat in Danny's bedroom. Danny had a bandage on his face to cover up the bleeding, but he had a couple bruises that ached painfully, "That was a nasty fight." 

Danny stated matter-of-factly, "I guess you could say I've had better ones."

Sam groaned, "Why is it every time as of late you run into a ghost, Valerie shows up trying to destroy you?"

"Bad luck, I guess. And it looks like she's gotten better."

Tucker said, "Looks like that new suit of hers is more powerful than her old one." He then added with a smile, "And a lot more stylin' as well."

Danny rolled his eyes, "What do you think I should do?"

Sam answered, "Until things die down a bit, you might have to lay low. It's probably too risky to be out in the open in case she'll be there too. Something catastrophic might happen, like you could get hurt really seriously, or she may even discover your secret. You had a close call with both of those today."

"Well, how am I supposed to stop ghosts when they appear if I 'lay low'?"

Tucker suggested, "You can knock her out if she shows up and hope she doesn't wake up until the battle's over."

Danny glared at him and replied, "I can't do that! I'm not sure I could even if I wanted to."

Sam sighed, "Just keep your eyes open. Make _absolutely_ sure she isn't around when a ghost shows up. And only if it's necessary, go ghost if something bad's going down and try to get it done quickly."

Danny was silent at being told this. He then proceeded to stare out the window, lost in thought.

* * *

Also lost in thought across town in the evening later that day was Valerie, who could only lie down on her bed a couple hours after her encounter with her enemy, Danny Phantom. 

At the moment, her thoughts about him were in a mix of hatred and confusion.

_Darn that ghost kid,_ she thought furiously, _I had him there. I had him right there where I wanted him. I could've destroyed him right there and finally ended his selfish streak. Then Sam and Tucker! What were they thinking, tackling me and holding me back like that! They let him get away!_

_And Danny…what happened to him? How did he just appear after the ghost kid escape? And on Friday in the cafeteria, and later at the Nasty Burger?_

_And that cut on his face…it looked exactly like the one I gave to Phantom._

The facts were this: She hated Danny Phantom. They had fought 3 times since Friday, and each time, there had been no real winner, as Phantom had usually flown off. He tried to make excuses for her to not fight him. He also held back sometimes when they fought.

She liked Danny Fenton. But he had never been around when she and Phantom battled. He was best friends with Sam and Tucker. But he was not with them when she and Phantom were in combat. Then when the fights were over, he's suddenly back and with them.

_What is going on with both of them?_ she thought. _For the ghost kid, he's just a coward for running away, and being a sneaky liar for trying to make up excuses all the time. But for Danny…_

As far as what she had seen from Danny in the last couple of days, she couldn't think of a real answer. It was probably just coincidence, but for it to happen for so many times…

Her hatred for Danny Phantom bubbled down as her confusion overpowered it. She didn't know what to think at this moment, but then she decided on one thing.

"I'm probably gonna have a talk with Danny tomorrow."

"Valerie," the voice of her father, Damon, rang out as her bedroom door opened, showing him there.

"Did you go out ghost hunting again?" he asked with a look of suspicion on his face.

"No," Valerie quickly lied.

He still looked skeptical as he answered, "Well, I saw you were gone most of the day, and now you're back, so…" He chose to let the matter drop as he finished, "Anyway, dinner will be ready in a few minutes."

"Alright, Dad."

He shut the door, leaving his daughter to gather her thoughts a few minutes more.

* * *

"Where am I?" Danny Phantom gasped as he looked around. It didn't take long to realize that he was in the Ghost Zone, a very deep part of the Ghost Zone at that. The background was its usual swirling green, but he saw that there were also streaks of black running across the skies. 

Then, in a creepy echo, he heard laughing. Not laughing, but cackling. Cold, mirthless, sinister cackling. Enough to send chills down Danny's spine. It was so low that Danny couldn't hear it too well, but it rang a bell somewhere.

Without warning, he saw something moving. A shadow was circling him from at least a hundred feet away. Danny reacted and fired a ghost ray at it, but the creature flew out of the way.

The laughing continued as green skeletons appeared much closer to Danny. They resembled those of Pariah Dark's skeleton army, but these did not have swords and they looked much taller. Danny gasped as they began to chant in a creepy echo, while the laughter faded.

"_Inside an ancient lair,  
a powerful evil brews.  
When a burst doth occur here,  
even the tempus lord shall lose._

_With an almighty evil approaching,  
all beings shall be in peril.  
Only one hope remains for all,  
and he resembles this devil._

_But not alone may he triumph,  
for aid he shall get.  
From those he calls friends,  
and one who thought him a culprit."_

Danny stammered in fear, "Wh-what the heck does that mean?"

There was no response as the skeletons all flew straight at him…

* * *

With a gasp, Danny suddenly sat up. He looked around, panting, and saw that he was in his bed. The sky was dark outside; it was probably the middle of the night. He checked his clock and saw that it read 2:17 AM. 

Danny wiped a bead of sweat off his face and sighed, "Man, that was weird. But who was that laughing? And what was that weird message those skeletons were saying to me?"

He sighed again, "Oh, well. Good thing it was just a dream."

Pushing the thought aside for the time being, Danny yawned and lied back down on his bed and went to sleep. But it wasn't completely easy.

* * *

Clockwork had a look of stress on his face as he watched a screen that showed Danny falling back asleep. Then he looked at the screen that showed the paper that he had eyed for the last few days. 

"So…" he said with a sigh, "Now he knows. Now he can hopefully prepare. Just in case."

He glanced again at the beaten-up thermos on the other side of the room. A couple more cracks had appeared on it, but it still seemed to be holding up…for the time being.

There were millions upon millions of prophecies contained in the Halls of Time, forecasting so many events across the entire planet. They had been created by his employers, the Observants, very near the beginning of time.

But Clockwork knew from previous experiences that the future was not set in stone, and therefore could not be written down on something as mundane as a piece of paper. But still…anything could happen.

"And if this does come true," the master of time said softly, "Then God help us all."

_Looks like trouble might be brewing, huh? Let me tell you, it took me forever to type up Valerie's part. This is my first fic that has Valerie as a main character all the way through. Up until now, she's only appeared either once in a while, or much time after the story began. It's been rather fun having someone a main character that I haven't used before._

_Anyway, she looks confused as to what's been happening over the last couple of days. Is she suspicious, and how will Danny react to this? And this message…can anyone tell what it means? Chapter 5 is on the way! R/R!_


	5. A Suspicion and a Skirmish

_Hey, guys. Is all well? It's fine with me, I guess. Except reviews are still coming in at a low amount, which means another long wait. And just so you all know, this coming Monday, I'll be heading down to Maryland for a week; I'll be back that Saturday, so starting Monday, don't expect any more updates until then._

_Alright, back to business. Here is Chapter 5! I don't own Danny Phantom._

**Phantom Prophecy**

**Chapter Five: A Suspicion and a Skirmish**

"Hold up, Danny," Tucker whispered as the three of them sat in Algebra class Monday morning, "Tell me what they said again."

Danny sighed, "Tucker, I've told you a billion times."

Sam interrupted, "Which is why I've written it down." She then showed her best friends a piece of paper that read the message Danny had received in his dream last night. It wasn't hard for Danny to remember something that creeped him out that much, and that felt so real.

Tucker quickly read it and whispered, "Any idea what it means?"

"No," Danny answered, "And this really doesn't seem like the place to talk about…"

"Mr. Fenton, Mr. Foley, Miss Manson," spoke their teacher, Ms. Lowe, "Is there something the three of you wish to share with the rest of the class?"

The trio responded simultaneously, "No, Ms. Lowe."

"In that case, you three had best keep your eyes on your work, or you will be spending your time after school in detention."

As she turned around, Danny muttered to Tucker, "Told you. We'll talk during lunch."

The three of them were then silent as Ms. Lowe returned to the equation on the board.

"Now, if you bring the X over here…"

* * *

True to his word, the three of them did pick up their conversation about Danny's dream last night later in the recently repaired cafeteria during lunch. 

Sam began it, "'Inside an ancient lair…' Who knows where that could be?"

Tucker continued, "'A powerful evil brews…' Could be a lot of things."

Danny went on, "'When a burst doth occur here…' No clue what that could mean."

Sam picked up, "'Even the tempus lord shall lose.' Not entirely sure about this."

They kept reading it out loud until reaching the end, and after they had done so, they could safely conclude that they didn't have the first clue what this message meant.

"Well, whatever it is," said Danny, "It doesn't sound good."

Tucker then stated, "Well, you said it yourself. It was just a dream."

Danny sighed, "I know, but it felt very real. And before those skeletons said it to me, I heard this…faint, eerie laughing."

Sam asked him, "Did you know who it was?"

He shook his head, "Nope. All I saw was a shadow moving far away from me, and it was also too far away for me to hear who it was. It did sound vaguely familiar, though."

Tucker spoke, "Well, maybe…"

Danny quickly interrupted, "Look, guys, I'm sure it's not a big deal. It's probably nothing; I'm probably just tired from all the fights I've been having lately."

"Fights?" rang out a familiar voice.

The three of them turned and saw that Valerie had walked up to their table while they had been talking.

She looked alarmed as she said, "Danny, have you been getting into fights? Is it Dash?"

Danny quickly stammered, "Uh, um…no, Valerie. I said, I said…"

"Bites!" Tucker quickly exclaimed.

"Yeah!" Danny said, playing along, "Bites. I've seen a lot of bugs lately, and they keep on biting me. It's really annoying."

Valerie still looked skeptical, but she chose not to press the matter any further, "Whatever. Look, Danny, I need to talk to you."

Sam and Tucker both seemed against the idea, but Danny answered, "Uh, sure."

Valerie smiled as she started back to her table. Danny followed, first looking back and seeing that Sam and Tucker were both staring at him with worried looks.

He quickly whispered, "I'll be fine." He then kept walking until he reached the table Valerie was sitting at by herself.

He asked her, "Where's Star? Doesn't she sit with you?"

Valerie responded, "She's sitting with Paulina and her crew today."

Now feeling somewhat awkward, Danny said, "So…what did you want to talk to me about?"

She sighed, "Look, Danny. I just want to ask you some simple questions."

"About…?" Danny said, looking puzzled.

Valerie took a deep breath and said, "The ghost boy."

Danny's eyes went wide. If there was any conversation he could have with Valerie that made him feel like snakes were writhing around in his stomach, it was definitely this one.

He again stammered, "Uh…wh-what about the ghost boy?"

"Look, you hang out with Sam and Tucker, right?"

"Yeah," Danny responded, "They're my best friends."

"Well, when I've seen the ghost boy lately, I've seen Sam and Tucker on the scene. Without you. Then, when he disappears, you're suddenly with them." She had a slight look of suspicion as she said, "Care to explain that?"

Danny was now feeling very nervous as he answered, "I-I don't know. I-I usually hide from him, be-because I'm m-more shy than them."

It didn't seem like Valerie was buying it too much. She then pointed to Danny's face and said simply, "That cut."

Danny instantly remembered the cut that he had sustained during the fight with her yesterday and put his hand up to the bandage that covered it. He then said, "What cut?"

She looked at Danny like he was stupid and answered blandly, "The one covered by a bandage that you're now covering with your hand."

Danny quickly took his hand away and asked, "What about it?"

"I saw the ghost boy get a cut on his face too. You weren't with Sam and Tucker at the time either. When he's gone, you appear, and you have that cut."

Danny shrugged nervously, "Coincidence?"

Valerie stared at him as though she were trying to stare right through him.

_She's suspicious,_ Danny thought, _It was bound to happen eventually._

Valerie then shook her head and said in a gentler tone, "I'm sorry if I sound suspicious like this. It just seems a little weird. But I trust you, Danny. I just need to know one thing." She paused for a moment before finishing, "How did you get a cut that deep?"

For a moment, Danny couldn't think of one word to say. How could he make up an excuse for this? Making up a story like falling on the ground wouldn't be able to explain a cut as bad as that.

He finally spoke, "Well…I just…"

But thankfully, Danny couldn't go any further as he heard the bell ringing, signaling the end of lunch period.

Mentally breathing a sigh of relief, Danny said very quickly as he got up and walked off, "Wish I could say, but looks like we're out of time. Guess I'll see you later, Val. Bye!"

Valerie watched him leave with a suspicious look back on her face. _He's hiding something,_ she thought.

"And I'm gonna find out what," she spoke out loud as she walked out of the lunchroom.

* * *

"She interrogated you?" Sam said in a gasp as she, Danny, and Tucker walked home after school got out. 

Danny held his forehead and answered, "Basically. She definitely noticed I wasn't around with you guys when she sees Danny Phantom, and then I was when he's gone."

Tucker then said, "And she noticed that cut too. I think she's suspicious."

"I'm telling you, Danny," Sam said worriedly, "It's going to become more and more risky for you to keep fighting ghosts if Valerie suspects something. I'm sure we made it more suspicious when we jumped on her yesterday."

Danny answered, "Well, I can't just let the ghosts go if they show up."

Tucker then said, "How about if Sam and I hide whenever you two start fighting, and she won't suspect as much."

Danny stated, "That still wouldn't explain why I'm not around when Danny Phantom is, or the cut on my face."

"Well," Tucker said, "There's always a last resort."

"What's that?" asked Danny.

"Tell her you're half-ghost."

Danny and Sam both stared at Tucker as though his eyeballs had just fallen out of his face.

"Oh, sure," Sam said sarcastically, "He can just walk up to her and say, 'Valerie, guess what? I'm the ghost boy you've always been fighting with.' I'm sure _that_ will work out perfect."

Tucker grumbled, "That's why I said it was a last resort. You got any better ideas?"

Just then, Danny's ghost sense went off again.

The three of them suddenly heard a crash and saw a huge ghostly elephant burst out of a building. It had bright green skin, glowing red eyes, and they saw there was a figure in red and black it had tied up with its trunk, groaning.

"Valerie!" Danny cried.

Valerie's arms were bound in place in the elephant's trunk and she couldn't move. She screamed, "Let go of me, ghost!"

"She's in trouble," Danny said, "I have to help her."

Sam started, "But what if she…"

"There's no choice!" Danny shouted as he ducked behind a pair of trash cans, a flash went off, and Danny Phantom flew out through the cans in the direction of the elephant and it's captive.

Valerie was silent as the elephant tried to stomp on Danny. He quickly flew out of the way and gave it a kick on its side. His foot struck hard, but it seemed to make no impact on the large creature.

Danny chuckled nervously, "So I take it you hardly felt that."

"Get me out of here!" Valerie demanded, "Right now!"

"What does it look like I'm trying to do?" Danny barked angrily. He then stepped back and fired a ghost ray at the elephant. This one hit its head and it looked dazed for a minute.

Danny took this opportunity and flew straight at the elephant and gave it a teeth-smashing punch right in its head. The elephant stumbled around lamely, obviously rattled from that attack.

Danny smiled as he threw a ball of energy straight at the elephant. It hit with a lot of force and the beast toppled over and landed flat on the ground. Its grip on Valerie relaxed and she rolled away from it.

And, unsurprisingly to Danny, she jumped up into the air with her jet board forming, and immediately fired with her ecto-grenade launcher at him.

Danny quickly dodged the attack and yelled, "Hey, what was that for?"

Valerie snarled, "Don't play dumb, Phantom. You got me out of that thing so you could finish me off yourself, didn't you?"

Danny groaned, "Why do you always assume the worst out of me?"

"Because you always show me the worst. Always! Even those times I had even thought about trusting you!" She then fired a pink laser from a smaller rifle at him. This one hit him in the chest and drove him down to the ground, where he crashed into a telephone pole.

Valerie than growled coldly at him, "So if you show your worst to me, why shouldn't I show my worst to you?

Danny detected the look of rage on Valerie's face as she fired her ecto-grenade launcher once again. Danny jumped aside and the blast missed by inches. He then fired a ghost ray at her that passed over her left shoulder.

Valerie charged back, flying on her jet board straight at the ghost boy. Not wanting an incident like yesterday happen, Danny did not project his dome, but instead shot straight upward. Valerie altered her course and followed him in hot pursuit, resulting in a fierce chase across the otherwise calm skies of Amity Park.

Finally, Danny turned around, still flying in the same direction, and threw a ball of energy at her. She wasn't expecting it and the blast struck her, knocking her off the board and sending her flying down.

As she was about to land on a skyscraper, she pulled out a grenade and threw it hard.

Danny, by this time, had turned around after firing the blast at her. He turned back too late, as the grenade struck him hard and sent him flying downward much harder. He landed on the ground hard, leaving him moaning in pain.

As he struggled to get back on his feet, he looked up and saw Valerie was back on her board and flying down from the skyscraper that she had landed on top of, straight towards him.

Danny cringed as she landed back on the ground.

"Please…" Danny begged, trying to buy himself time for the moment, "Don't do this. You'll regret it."

Valerie spat, "Regret eliminating the ghost that's always wrecked my life? I'll be filled with joy over it."

"You don't understand. I'm not as bad as you think I am."

"Here you go again!" Valerie snapped, "All these excuses about you being innocent, and not doing anything bad, and me making a mistake, just to get yourself out of trouble."

"Because they're all true!"

"Yeah, you would say that."

"No, listen, I…"

Danny was cut off as a ring suddenly formed at his waist. Danny gasped as he thought desperately, _No! Don't change back. Please don't change back! Not now!_

Valerie now had a look of awe as the ring split and one started going up and the other started going down…

_Uh-oh! Danny's in a bad spot right now, isn't he? Is Valerie about to find out Danny's ghostly secret? Well, you're gonna have to wait until Chapter 6! Oh, and could you all please not kill me for ending it right there? I would appreciate it._

_On a note, even if she does find out, don't worry. There's till a heck of a lot of this story left to go. R/R!_


	6. The Beginning

_What's up, people? I was a little bit happier with the review total this time around, but I know it could be better. Anyway, I'll be heading out to Maryland on Monday, so if you want one more update before I leave, send in a bunch of reviews. If I'm either not satisfied or don't have the time, you'll all have to wait over a week. We'll see how it turns out._

_Here's Chapter 6! I STILL don't own Danny Phantom._

**Phantom Prophecy**

**Chapter Six: The Beginning**

Danny was cut off as a ring suddenly formed at his waist. Danny gasped as he thought desperately, _No! Don't change back. Please don't change back! Not now!_

Valerie now had a look of awe as the ring split and one started going up and the other started going down…

Danny closed his eyes and gritted his teeth as he waited for it to be over, for Valerie to witness his transformation, to discover his ghostly secret, to realize his second identity.

He then opened up and gasped.

Danny looked down and saw that he was now wearing his regular human jeans and sneakers, but the rest of him was that of Danny Phantom.

Valerie now looked puzzled as she said, "Hey, what's up with those jeans?"

Danny answered nervously, "Uh, casual Friday?" He mentally slapped himself, remembering too late that he had once tried that excuse after he and Dash got struck by his dad's new Fenton Crammer.

Valerie stared at him, "It's Monday, doofus." She then fired a laser at him.

The ghost boy quickly jumped out of the way and dodged the blow. He then started to run. Another flash went through him, and his jeans were replaced by the rest of his ghost suit. He was now completely Danny Phantom once again.

As Valerie fired a barrage of blasts at him while flying towards him on her board, she barked, "Stop running away and fight!"

Danny saw himself approaching a building. Seeing his opportunity to escape, he went intangible and phased through the building. He continued running through it. Valerie, of course, was forced to divert her board sharply to the right and around the building.

Danny jumped up and out of the building, changing back into Danny Fenton just before landing safely on the ground.

As he heard Valerie approach, he quickly muttered to himself, "If she sees me here, she might suspect something." He then hurried across the street and ducked behind a mailbox.

Valerie flew over behind the building and searched for Danny. At seeing he was nowhere in sight, she groaned and threw her rifle onto the ground, "Rats. He got away again."

_But he did save your life,_ a voice appeared in her head.

"No!" she said out loud, "He just got that beast out of the way so he could finish me off himself. But I'm gonna be the one to finish him instead."

She then sighed and said, "But I'll have to do it later."

And, feeling rather drained and somewhat worn out, she flew away.

Danny watched as the teenage ghost hunter took off flying on her board, and then sighed with relief, "Man, that was too close. Better go tell Tucker and Sam. If I can find them."

He then ran off, back towards where he last saw them.

* * *

"You WHAT!" Sam shrieked as the three of them sat in an alley near Fenton Works. 

Danny quickly put his hands up, "Sam, I told you! It was an accident, and she still ended up not seeing anything, right?"

She groaned, "Danny, that's not the point! I'm not blaming you for going to save her from that elephant, but how could you not know when to get away from her? Did you honestly think she was going to _thank_ you for saving her when she's…well, the way she is!"

Tucker cut in, "Sam, chill out! Danny didn't…"

Sam interrupted by pointing at him, "You, be quiet."

"Okay."

"Again," said Danny, "I doubt she suspected something."

Sam sighed, "For now, Danny. For now. It's getting more and more dangerous for you to be fighting with her these days. Yes, if she's in trouble, save her, but try to avoid any battling with her."

"It's not like I ever want to battle with her in the first place," Danny responded bitterly. Sam could be pretty bossy sometimes, but he knew she always had his best interests at heart in these types of situations.

Besides, he could handle it. Nothing major had happened yet.

* * *

Later that afternoon, as the three of them did homework at Tucker's house, their topic of discussion had switched back to Danny's dream. 

"Have you ever heard it before?" Tucker asked Danny curiously.

Danny shook his head, "Not before last night, Tuck."

Sam stated, "I think I'm most concerned about that second verse. 'With an almighty evil approaching, all beings shall be in peril. Only one hope remains for all, and he resembles this devil.' Any clue what that could mean?"

They both shook their heads silently.

"But why would you be dreaming some weird thing like this? Dreams like these don't come along every day."

Danny sighed, "Look, guys. I appreciate your concern, but I'm telling you, it's just a dream. There is no powerful evil, or nothing happening to some tempus lord, or some dude resembling a devil. We're all getting worked up over nothing."

Tucker stated, "Well, actually, we're getting worked up over the ton of homework Lowe assigned us."

"Whatever," Danny said hastily, "Let's just forget about it, alright?"

But Danny knew that his words betrayed his thoughts, as the three of them got back on their homework. The dream was creepy enough to not allow him to "just forget about it". He was forced to think about it more.

_What if it's not just a dream? _Danny found himself thinking, _I can't count out everything, not with the way my life's gone these last several months. And that message…why does it sound so…familiar? Well, not familiar, because I've never heard it, but I feel as though I…understand it in some way. But how?_

_I'm probably just paranoid because of my situation with Valerie and all the ghosts I've had to fight lately._

"Danny," Sam said suddenly, snapping him out of his thoughts.

"Huh?" Danny spoke, not expecting Sam to speak.

"Do you really think Ms. Lowe will be impressed if you turned in _that_ as your homework?"

"What do you mean?" asked Danny as he looked down at the paper he was writing on. It was supposed to be Algebra problems out of their textbook. He saw what he had written and frowned sheepishly as his friends smirked playfully.

He had written the entire message from his dream on the paper, twice.

* * *

_Lightning flashed all across the swirling green sky, while everyone on the ground was running around like maniacs._

_Danny was knocked into a burning tree by a green skeleton. As more of them closed in, he desperately fired one ghost ray after another at them. A few struck, but they kept closing in._

_He had no idea where this gigantic army had come from. They had just appeared after the ground had split open and started to attack everything in sight. Danny had tried to fight back, but there must have been thousands of them. He now stood with parts of his suit torn, bruises all over his face, and a black right eye._

_Danny shot upward into the air, and as he was flying away from the skeletons, he fired a large ball of energy at them. It struck hard and they went scattering in different directions._

_But more kept on coming. They kept attacking with their swords, and he was left desperately dodging the fierce attacks._

_He looked around and saw a few familiar faces that were fighting alongside him. He smiled at this, but he knew they were desperately outnumbered._

"_What do we do?" Danny spoke as he looked around at the horrible sight. Buildings lay wrecked, fire burned across the forests and fields, the sun appeared to have vanished behind the swirling green sky, and he was very surprised to see that no ghost shield was going up. During Pariah Dark's siege months ago, the Fenton Ghost Shield had gone up and had been expanded to protect at least three-fourths of the entire city._

_And then, there it was again. The laughing. Again, it was faint, so he couldn't figure out who it was…and yet, it rang a bell somewhere…_

_A shadowy figure had appeared floating in the air right in front of a skyscraper. Danny quickly fired a ball of energy at the figure, but it stuck out its hand and absorbed the blow like it was nothing._

_Danny gasped in fright as the figure suddenly formed an enormous orb of light and energy the size of his own body, and then fired it straight at him._

_**BBBLAAMMM!**_

_Danny was struck with the gigantic blast and driven backward a long way, finally smashing into a damaged building. The rest of the building went crashing down behind him._

_Very slowly, Danny crawled out of the wreckage, transforming back into Danny Fenton with a painful groan._

"_No…" he said miserably, "How could I let this happen?"_

_There was no response, but Danny looked up and saw whoever had blasted him was slowly walking towards him. By now, Danny's vision was growing blurry and he still couldn't tell who it was._

"_Who…who are you?" Danny asked fearfully._

_The figure again did not respond. It just laughed sinisterly, but again, very, very softly. Its fist glowed a powerful green as he swung it straight towards the top of Danny's head…_

* * *

"No!" Danny cried as he sat up. He panted heavily as he looked around and saw that he was in his room. It was dark outside, which meant that it was still late at night. A glance at the clock said that it was 1:22 AM. 

Danny forced himself to relax as he eased his breathing.

"Man," he spoke quietly, "What was that all about?"

"What was what all about?" said a voice as his door opened a crack.

Danny looked up and saw his sister, Jazz, in the doorway. She was in her pajamas and had obviously been awoken by Danny's yell.

He sighed, "Nothing."

Jazz stared at him, "Danny, I seriously doubt that you waking up screaming in the middle of the night is nothing. Were you dreaming?"

"Yeah."

"About some skeletons reciting a message to you, by any chance?"

Danny's eyes went wide.

"How did you know about that?"

"Danny, please," Jazz said with a smile, "You're talking to the person who first saw you transform in an alley."

Danny frowned and grumbled, "Nosy, pestering…"

"What was that?" Jazz said with an icy glare.

"Nothing," Danny responded quickly, "And anyway, it wasn't about that. At least, not the message part."

"What was this one about?"

"Well, it kind of resembled the Ghost King's siege, with his army attacking everywhere, only much worse, and then I saw this shadowy figure, cackling softly, and then sending this huge attack at me, and…well, not much else."

Jazz had a worried look on her face as she asked him, "Do you think it means anything?"

"I don't know, Jazz," Danny responded, looking tired and stressed. He then looked out his window at the beautiful starry sky and repeated, "I just don't know."

* * *

As an infant, Clockwork watched the scene between brother and sister unfold in front of him and sighed, "But you will know soon enough. And hopefully, you can be ready…for the challenge that lies ahead." 

He then became an adult as he turned around with a frown at the thermos at the back of the room, which shook more and more. The cracks that had appeared were becoming longer, and spread out wider as a faint cackling could be heard inside…

_**BAM!**_

Without warning, after so much effort over such a long period of time, the cap of the Fenton Thermos finally burst off, leaving a ray of silver light to come shooting out of it.

Clockwork became a senior as he watched the scene with a grave look on his face.

A figure was finally taking place in the light. After a few seconds, the light vanished, leaving the evil ghost in full view. Flaming white hair, menacing red eyes, a pale face, a long black and white cape, and a black and white suit with a D with a P on the inside of it on the chest. All on a powerful, muscular, and malicious ghost, one that a certain ghost boy was once destined to become.

Dan Phantom spoke in a blood-chilling voice, "I'm baaaack."

_If I may, MWAHAHAHAHA! Okay, I'm done. Well, I'm sure you all figured that was going to happen. But we still have a long way to go. It's hardly begun to be hard for Danny yet._

_But what happens now that his evil future self has escaped? Will Clockwork stop him? He should, I mean, he's the master of time, right? Right? …Wait until Chapter 7!_


	7. Unusual Assistance

_Hey, guys! How are you? I was very pleased with the amount of reviews I received following the last chapter. I'm not that surprised, considering what occurred. So I chose to update today, before we left tomorrow morning._

_Alright, here we go! Chapter 7 is here! I don't own…eh, never mind._

**Phantom Prophecy**

**Chapter Seven: Unusual Assistance**

Clockwork looked at Dan with a frown and said, "I knew you'd be back."

Phantom snorted, "Meddling know-it-all. Just like Jazz." He then pointed to the broken thermos he had just escaped from, "You know, I always did wonder what it was like in that thing."

The master of time glared and held out his staff. He punched the top of it and said, "Time out."

In an instant, everything in the lair stopped working. The clocks stopped ticking, the cogs stopped moving, and Dan stood perfectly still.

But a second later, Dan flew upwards into the air, cackling.

He then said matter-of-factly, "I exist outside of time now, remember? Your rules don't apply to me. And now, if you'll excuse me…you're in my way." And to exercise his point, Dan fired a powerful ghost ray at Clockwork.

Clockwork quickly held up his staff in front of the blast and it bounced away. He then grabbed his scythe and said, "I'm afraid it's your time that has been up for ten years."

He then flew towards Dan with the scythe in hand. Dan just laughed as he charged ectoplasmic energy in his hand, and then released it in the form of a long rope. It tied around the scythe and he started to pull.

Clockwork pulled back as the two engaged in a little tug-of-war.

Finally, Dan smirked as he swung his arms upward, and then, in one lightning-fast motion, snapped them back downward.

It was enough to make Clockwork lose his grip on the scythe, and he fell down.

Dan then laughed at him, "Looks like you're losing your touch, old man."

Clockwork become an adult as he replied, "Then perhaps it's time for you to see a younger me."

Several flashes later, a number of different Clockworks from different time periods had appeared inside the lair, all staring at the evil ghost, ready to attack.

In a flash, they all fired whatever weapons they had at him. Dan quickly put up a large shield in front of himself and the attacks were blocked out.

The Clockworks then flew all around Dan, so that they surrounded him left and right.

Dan simply scoffed, "Oh, no. I cannot use my shield now because I will surely be hit from behind." Then he frowned and said in an all-too-serious tone, "Oh, please."

Then he took a deep breath and unleashed his most powerful weapon, the dreaded ghostly wail. The Clockworks all screamed as powerful waves of energy spread out in all directions, knocking them all backward.

The walls and ceiling shook until pieces of each fell off. The ghostly wail was kept up for a few more moments, and then stopped, but by now, only the original Clockwork remained, and Phantom smiled down upon him.

"Thanks for the warm-up, Clockwork. I needed the practice after being stuck inside that old thermos for so long. But now, I'm on to bigger and better things."

Clockwork watched as Dan flew out of the lair with a sinister smile on his face.

* * *

Danny sighed as he and his two best friends walked to school the next day.

Tucker asked him, "You okay, dude?"

Sam then asked him, "Did you have that dream again last night?"

Danny shook his head, "No. It was a different dream. Well, mainly different."

"What was it about?" asked Tucker.

Danny sighed as he recited what occurred in the dream the way he had recited it to Jazz last night. When he had finished, both of their mouths were agape and they looked very much in awe.

Sam said, "Do you think it means something?"

Danny shrugged, "I wish I knew, Sam. I really do."

Tucker stated, "I'm really starting to get the feeling that these aren't just dreams."

"Same here," agreed Sam.

"Ditto," Danny spoke, "But we probably shouldn't jump to conclusions. Instead, we should probably look into this a bit more."

"How are we going to do that?" Tucker asked him.

Sam scratched her chin for a minute, and then answered with a smile, "Suki."

"Geseundheit," Tucker responded.

"No, no!" Sam said, looking exasperated, "This woman I know. Her name is Suki."

"What about her?" Danny asked.

* * *

"Sam," Tucker said that cloudy afternoon, as the three of them walked towards downtown after school, "Are you sure this is a good idea?"

Sam turned to him and responded, "It's worth a shot, as far as I can see."

Danny then said to her, "But what if she ends up discovering my secret because of this? I don't see any way she won't figure it out!"

Sam replied, "Danny, relax. Even if she does figure it out, I'm sure we can trust her. She's a good friend of mine; she wouldn't snitch.

Danny still appeared to have his doubts but chose to say nothing.

After a few more minutes, they arrived at a tall building. On a sign at the base of it said, "Suki Toshiko-Professional Psychic".

Tucker stated, "I always thought foreseeing the future was just a bunch of mumbo jumbo. I mean, you know, except for someone like Clockwork."

Danny asked her, "How in the world do you know this lady?"

"I accidentally knocked her down back when I was ten. I saw her going in here and I was curious. Now I come here every so often. Believe me, it's a long story."

"And somehow," Tucker said as he looked away, "I don't think I want to know it."

Sam then turned to Danny and said, "But we won't bother going in if you're absolutely sure you won't go through with it. I don't want you to feel uncomfortable or anything."

Danny sighed, thought for a few seconds, and then answered, "Let's just do it."

Sam nodded with a smile.

As she knocked on door, she said, "Now I have to warn you. Suki can be pretty weird, so just roll with it."

Danny said simply, "Sam, she's a psychic. I think that's all the weird we need to know."

Sam just rolled her eyes as the door opened up. In the doorway stood a middle-age woman of Japanese descendant. She wore a dark purple cloak and she definitely looked the part of a psychic.

She smiled upon seeing Sam, "Ah, welcome, Miss Manson. You are always welcome in my home." She took notice of Danny and Tucker and questioned the Goth girl, "And these two must be your friends?"

"Yup," Sam answered with a smile as they stepped inside, "Danny Fenton, and Tucker Foley."

Suki bowed before them, "Miss Manson has told me so much about you."

Politely, the two of them bowed back, with Danny saying, "Nice to meet you too."

"So…" Suki said as they walked into a dark room lit only by candles, "What do I owe the pleasure of hosting the young Sam Manson and her friends? Wait…"

Suki pressed her fingers to her temples and hummed, "Hmmmmmmm…you have come to me with a problem. And it concerns…hmmmmmmm…the young Mr. Fenton."

Danny and Tucker both looked dumbfounded. They turned to Sam and she said with a smirk, "Mumbo jumbo, huh?"

Danny turned back to Suki and said nervously, "Um, yes. I have a problem."

"Very well, my dear," Suki said kindly, "I must know what your dilemma is."

"Well…it's about this dream…"

"No!" Suki suddenly cried, "You need not tell me. All we must do is join hands, and I will discover your problem."

They hesitated, but did as they were told. They all sat down on the floor in a circle, with a crystal ball in the center of it. Sam took Suki's hand in her left hand, and Danny's in her right. Danny took Tucker's in his right hand, and Tucker took Suki's in his right.

"Now…" Suki said softly, "I must have absolute silence."

"Right, Tucker?" Sam said.

Tucker glared but didn't reply.

Suki then took a deep breath as she began to chant a very soft chant, and in a language they didn't understand.

After several moments of chanting, there was suddenly a noise.

_**BANG!**_

Without warning, something began to take place in the crystal ball. Swirling images, and then they all saw it.

It was the swirling green skies of the Ghost Zone, but with streaks of black running across them. Then, the very soft laughing. The sinister laughing that made the hair on Danny's neck stand on end.

Danny then realized what was happening. It was his dream. Sunday night's dream, through his eyes.

A shadow was moving in the ball. A ghost ray was sent, but missed.

Finally, the tall green skeletons appeared, lined up in a circle. Then again, they chanted.

"_Inside an ancient lair,  
a powerful evil brews.  
When a burst doth occur here,  
even the tempus lord shall lose._

_With an almighty evil approaching,  
all beings shall be in peril.  
Only one hope remains for all,  
and he resembles this devil._

_But not alone may he triumph,  
for aid he shall get.  
From those he calls friends,  
and one who thought him a culprit."_

When the chanting had ceased, they heard Danny saying, "Wh-what the heck does that mean?"

The skeletons shot straight towards the front of the ball…and then faded.

But it wasn't done yet. Something else was taking form inside the ball. The teenagers watched in awe as they finally saw the shape of lightning appearing on the ball. They then saw the sky swirling green, and shorter green skeletons with swords were stomping on the road.

Danny now realized the scene had switched to his dream from last night.

A ball of energy was seen shot at the skeletons and several were struck by it. But more attacked back with swords in their bony hands.

The view changed to see a few figures from farther down fighting the skeletons as well. They were doing pretty good, but were vastly outnumbered.

"What do we do?" they heard Danny in the ball speak as they saw how horrible Amity Park had looked. Wrecked buildings, fire everywhere, the vanished sun, and no ghost shield to protect the screaming and panicking people.

And again, they heard the cackling. The very faint cackling, and then a shadowy figure to match it. A ball of energy was thrown at it, but the figure absorbed it easily.

They then watched as a huge orb of light and energy was formed, and thrown right towards the front of the ball.

From there, a huge blast was heard, and the view shook around for a few seconds, showing a bunch of falling debris and rubble.

They then saw a view of the legs of Danny Phantom. Then, in a flash, they became the legs of Danny Fenton.

The three teens had frantic looks on their faces but they were silent.

The view on the crystal ball was now growing blurry as they saw a larger figure moving towards the front of the ball.

They heard Danny saying in fear, "Who…who are you?"

No response was heard. Again, they heard that cold but soft laughing. Its fist glowed green, and then swung down…

The picture on the ball faded, leaving nothing shown on it.

Out of nowhere, Suki suddenly took a very deep breath as she let go of Sam and Tucker's hands. She then inhaled and exhaled a few times, as though to calm herself down.

By this time, Tucker's mouth was wide open and he looked as though he might pass out. Sam had a frightened look on her face. And Danny's eyes were expanded and he had a bit of a deer-in-the-headlights look.

Finally, Suki spoke, "So…you are the ghost boy, no?"

Danny gulped. He knew there was no way around it. "Yes."

Sam pleaded to her, "Suki, please don't tell _anyone_ about this."

Suki smiled, "Not to worry. I would not betray the trust of a good friend. My lips are sealed."

She then turned to Danny and said, "Well, then. These dreams of yours…please tell me what you think of them."

"Um…" Danny said, "Well, they definitely creep me out. But I still have a feeling they may just be dreams."

She sighed, "They are not just dreams, dear boy. They are visions."

"Visions?" Danny gasped, looking freaked out.

"Yes, indeed. If they were just dreams, they would have been more difficult for all four of us to see."

"But why me?" Danny asked her, "Why am I getting these…visions?"

She sighed again, "This I do not know. This is a matter that I have never dealt with before. I would suggest looking into the prophecy we saw from the first dream."

"Prophecy?" the three of them said simultaneously.

"Yes," Suki nodded, "It is a prophecy. You do not believe something like that to come up in a dream for nothing?"

They slowly shook their heads.

"Very well then," Suki said with a nod, "Our session is completed. You three may leave."

Danny, Sam, and Tucker got up and walked to the door.

Danny called back, "Well, thanks for your help."

Sam also called, "Yeah. Thanks, Suki."

"Anything for a friend," Suki answered calmly.

"Wait!" she suddenly shouted as they reached the doorway.

The three of them stopped on a dime and turned around.

Suki smiled as she held out her hand, "That will be forty bucks."

_That's going to be all for now! I was intending to have a quick scene with Dan at the end, but this looks good too. Let me tell you, I had never thought of putting in a meeting with a psychic anywhere in this fic. The idea just popped into my head out of nowhere._

_Well, now the three of them know that Danny's dreams are not just dreams. But can they decipher the riddle hidden within the prophecy? And what is Danny's jerky future self planning now that he's free? Let's wait until Chapter 8, coming either Saturday or Sunday!_


	8. Tracking in Two Ways

_What's up, ya'll? Everything all right? I was satisfied with the amount of reviews I got and I wanted to update on Saturday, but stuff got in the way and I couldn't find the time. Also, it's getting a little tricky coming up with new ideas for this fic. Just so you all know, school starts for me on Tuesday, so I may not be able to update as much. It all depends._

_Enough of all that. Here's Chapter 8!_

**Phantom Prophecy**

**Chapter Eight: Tracking in Two Ways**

"Valerie, package for you!" Damon Gray shouted to his daughter, currently residing in her bedroom.

"Coming, Dad!" Valerie cried as she walked out of the room, seeing her dad holding a large and familiar package.

"Another one from Wisconsin, sweetie," he explained as he handed the package to her, "Any idea who might be sending these boxes to you? They're always addressed with no name."

"No," Valerie lied, her dialogue speeding up as she walked swiftly back to her room, "No clue. Can't say. Have no idea who could be sending them. Later, Dad!"

She shut the door, leaving a skeptical Damon Gray in her wake.

Once inside, she opened the package to discover what awaited her inside. She hadn't received any packages from the man who sent them to her in the last few weeks.

On top of the bubble wrap she found inside was a note. She read it out loud.

_Valerie_

_With this, your prey won't be able to hide. Good luck!_

_Vlad_

Curious, Valerie tossed the bubble wrap away and observed what was inside it. It was a silver metallic device the size of a brick, with its share of buttons, and also a small hole on the side.

"What in the world is this thing?" she asked herself in confusion.

At the bottom of the package was a thin manual. She took it out and read what it said on the cover.

"Ghost DNA Tracker."

Valerie then found a little more info inside, reading one sentence stated out loud, "With just a lock of hair, blood, saliva, sweat, etc. from any type of ghost, you will be able to track that ghost wherever he goes."

Her eyes went wide as she looked up and away from the manual for a minute.

_This is it,_ she thought to herself, _This is exactly what I need to eliminate that ghost kid. He won't be able to run away from me as soon as I get some DNA from him. No more hiding and running away like a coward for him._

She had instantly forgotten about how mixed her feelings had become for Danny Phantom. How she was basically switching between hating him, and being confused that he was never around when Danny Fenton was. That didn't matter to her right now. All that mattered to her was that she had what she needed to get rid of him, once and for all.

Her face then broke into a sinister smile as she said, "Ghost boy, you are going down now."

* * *

"Almighty evil," Danny said to himself, scratching his chin while sitting in his bedroom with Sam and Tucker that evening, "What could be an almighty evil?" 

Tucker pointed out, "There's the ghost king. He's almighty."

Sam responded, "Yeah, but the next part wouldn't make much sense. The only hope resembles 'this devil'? What could possibly resemble him?"

Tucker guessed, "Maybe he has a jealous brother?"

"I'm guessing we probably would've seen him the first time he came here."

Danny sighed, "An ancient lair…what lair do we know is ancient?"

Sam shrugged, "We don't know how old the lairs in the Ghost Zone are. Just that the ghost king's lair has been around long before Skulker, and we're already thinking of ruling the king out."

They continued wracking their brains for the next few minutes, simply trying to find some solution.

Danny thought to himself, _Ancient lair. What lair has been around a really long time? Time. Time. Time!_

"Maybe…" Danny said out loud, but he never got to finish as a cold blue mist appeared from his mouth.

"This will have to wait," Danny stated, annoyed that a ghost should go and appear right now, when he had just been starting to come up with something.

"I am the Box Ghost!" a loud yell came as a short ghost appeared in the bedroom. He had bluish skin, wore a goofy hat, and wore overalls. Overall, it was just one goofy ghost that irritated Danny to no end.

The three of them groaned simultaneously, "Aw, man."

"What do you want?" Danny grumbled.

"Fear me!" The Box Ghost shouted in a pathetic attempt to sound intimidating, "For I, the Box Ghost, have returned once again to force you to feel the wrath of me! The Box Ghost!"

Danny rolled his eyes, "How about this?"

Then, without even transforming, he fired a ghost ray at the Box Ghost. It hit and knocked him backward, where he phased through the wall.

Danny quickly transformed and said to his friends, "Stay here. This won't take long."

He then flew through the wall and followed the Box Ghost, who was now floating in mid-air near a building.

Grinning, he shot towards Danny and tried to punch him, but Danny easily dodged the attack and sent a ball of energy at him. It struck gold and he went crashing to the ground.

Danny flew down towards him and saw the Box Ghost wail, "NO! You cannot defeat me! For I am…"

The ghost boy interrupted as he gave the goofy ghost a kick to the head, knocking him down. He then smiled as he took out the Fenton Thermos, "Seriously, do we have to go through this every time?"

He then removed the cap from the thermos as he said, "Because it's so much easier if we skip straight to this."

In no time at all, the screaming Box Ghost was once again sucked inside the Fenton Thermos, leaving Danny looking rather satisfied.

But in a flash, that look of satisfaction vanished as Danny was struck in the back by a pink beam of light. It hit him hard and it knocked him down face-first in the grass.

Danny moaned, his voice muffled, "Don't tell me."

He turned his face back upward, and once again, he saw the teen ghost hunter Valerie, flying towards him on her board.

She sneered, "You're not getting away this time."

He sighed, "I so don't have time for this."

Valerie then pulled out her discs and fired them at Danny. He quickly jumped around the attacks, but one ran through his hair, cutting some off his head.

"Hey!" Danny snapped, "I work hard to keep my hair like that!"

Valerie replied, "Your hair's gonna be the least of your worries, ghost boy. Because I've had enough of your constant running away, and I'm gonna do something about it!"

Danny raised an eyebrow in confusion, "What do you mean by that?"

"You'll find out," she responded simply as she fired her ecto-grenade launcher at him. Danny quickly fired a ghost ray at the blast. The two blasts hit and collided in mid-air, hanging there as energy built, little by little.

_**BOOM!**_

A great explosion went off, sending dust, smoke, and debris scattering across the ground. Valerie coughed as it began to clear, trying to spot her prey somewhere in the wreckage.

Finally, it cleared, and Danny Phantom was nowhere in sight.

Danny would've been surprised to see Valerie simply smile as she flew down softly to the snow-white hair that had been cut off Danny's head, now lying on the ground.

She picked up a single lock of the hair and placed it in a bag and closed it.

Valerie kept that smile on her face as she said, "Look out, spook. Now you've got nowhere to hide."

She then turned and flew on her jet board back to her apartment, where she had left the DNA Tracker.

* * *

Danny flew back into his room with the Fenton Thermos in hand, and changed back into Danny Fenton upon seeing Sam and Tucker there waiting for him. 

Tucker said, "Took a little longer than you expected, huh?"

"Yeah," Danny replied as he scratched the back of his neck, "I ran into…"

"Valerie?" Sam interrupted.

"Yep," Danny said somewhat sheepishly, "But don't worry. Nothing happened. She fired once or twice and then I was able to escape. But there was something she said that puzzles me."

"What's that?" Sam asked him.

"She said that she's had it with me running away from her, and she's gonna do something about it."

Tucker asked him, "What's she gonna do?"

Danny shrugged, "No idea. She just said that I'd find out."

"That sounds bad."

"No," Sam said, her voice dripping with sarcasm, "Really? You think? I had no idea."

Danny sighed, "Look, can we not talk about this right now? I really want to get back to work on that prophecy and trying to figure out what in the world it means. I thought I had something before the Box Ghost interrupted."

"Really?" Sam and Tucker responded simultaneously, looking suddenly more awake than they had been.

"Well, what was it, dude?" Tucker asked.

Danny paused, "Uh…it was…uh…" He wracked his brain, trying to remember what he had been thinking of before his ghost sense had went off. But with beating him, then his little confrontation with Valerie, and with what she said, it had been pushed out of his head.

He sighed in confession, "I don't remember."

They both groaned in defeat, Danny's response obviously not the one they had been hoping for.

"Hey, hey," Danny said quickly to his friends, "I'm sure it'll come to me. Eventually. Let's just think about it a bit more."

Tucker sighed, "Sorry, dude, but I gotta go. I promised my folks I'd be home before ten, and it's about quarter of."

Sam checked her watch and stated, "Yeah. Me too."

Danny's face quickly fell, "Oh. Alright then, I guess I'll see you both tomorrow."

"See you," Tucker and Sam both said at different times as they both walked out the door, leaving Danny alone to his current state of stress.

* * *

Dan Phantom had a focused look on his face as he flew through the Ghost Zone in silence. He had traveled all day, and had finally found the place he was looking for. It was a tall and very old castle on a floating ledge, with ghostly crows perched on its roof. 

He spoke to himself as he flew in, "If I'm going to eliminate that nuisance who I used to be, I'm going to have to be more prepared. At more of an advantage. He got lucky last time, and I'm gonna make sure he won't have the chance to have that same luck this time around."

He flew through the long corridors, and large rooms inside the castle, until he came to one room in the very center of it all.

In this room was a hole in the back of it. Through that hole, up a flight of steps, was a tomb. A very large tomb that Dan hadn't seen in ten years, but recognized all too well.

He smirked as he eyed the keyhole in the middle, "Oh, but the sarcophagus is locked. How am I going to get in now?"

Phantom kept up his smirk as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a golden key with a skull on one end of it. The same key that had been used on this very sarcophagus months ago, leading the all-powerful Pariah Dark to reign on an unsuspecting world.

"The Skeleton Key," he said wickedly, "I had a feeling I would need this after ruining that old cheesehead."

He then put the key in the hole and turned it.

Outside the castle, the ghostly crows cawed loudly at hearing this. They then began to fly away from the castle, knowing exactly what was going on inside.

The sarcophagus finally opened up, revealing a very large and muscular ghost inside with green hair, a pair of horns on his head, one broken, an eye patch over one eye and a scar across the other, a large black suit with skull badges, and spiky silver gloves. His appearance greatly resembled a military commander, and his personality definitely fit the part.

Dan smiled to Pariah Dark and gave a mock bow, "Greetings, your highness."

_Oh, boy! I bet you all weren't expecting THAT, huh? Yeah, that was something I had planned to happen from the start, not something I just made up as I went along._

_Well, now Dan has released the ghost king from the Sarcophagus of Forever Sleep! How does that fit into his plans? And what will happen to Danny now that Valerie has the technology to track him down? Also, what will befall Amity Park now that the most evil and the most powerful have met? Let's wait until Chapter 9!_


	9. New Answers

_Hi, guys. How is everything? Right now, I'm a little stressed out. Junior year of high school has started up, and it looks harder than ever. Hopefully I'll find time to keep this going on a regular basis. Anyway, I'm pretty much glad with the reviews, mostly since I'm sure there would have been more if the site hadn't been going haywire since the other day. It got really annoying._

_But anyway, here is Chapter 9! Watch out, because this is where it starts to get REALLY action-packed. Enjoy, all!_

**Phantom Prophecy**

**Chapter Nine: New Answers**

"WHO DARES!" Pariah boomed at being awaken from his sleep.

Dan was completely unafraid as he responded, "I have come to free you, almighty ghost king, and to assist you in your new reign among the world."

Pariah scoffed, "Please! Like a whelp like you would ever be any assistance to a being as powerful as myself. For you are that ghost child who thwarted me those months ago! But you look different."

Dan snorted, "I'm not that weakling. I wish to eliminate him, but to assist you first."

Parish snarled, "Never would I require help from an insufficient weakling like you!" He then started to power up a large red blast in his hand as he thundered, "Now I order you to be gone!"

Dan was quite agitated at being called an insufficient weakling, but he seemed unfazed as he said with a smile, "I can help you seek out the Crown of Fire, King Pariah."

Pariah's eyes widened at being told this. The Crown of Fire was one of two ancient items that allowed him to reach his greatest form of strength, but it was now in the possession of Vlad Plasmius following his last release. He currently wore the second item, the Ring of Rage, on his finger.

As the blast in his hand powered down, he folded his arms, "And just where might you know where it could possibly be?"

Dan gave a small chuckle, "I have a pretty good idea."

Then he thought to himself, _Although I think I'm going to tell you something different._

* * *

As Danny entered the kitchen for breakfast the following morning, he yawned. 

"Another long night, Danny?" Jazz asked him as she entered the kitchen behind him.

Danny sighed, "You don't miss a thing, do you?"

Jazz smiled, "Not a thing."

As he started to make himself some toast, Danny asked her, "Any idea what Mom and Dad have been doing the last few days?" Jack and Maddie had spent most of their time in the lab, even more time than usual.

Jazz sighed, "They're still working on that weird patch thing to enhance a person's strength like the ecto-skeleton did."

"You think they're getting very far?"

_**BAM!**_

Danny and Jazz jumped in surprise as they heard a loud explosion come from the basement.

Jack quickly shouted, "Sorry, kids!"

Jazz groaned, "That's probably a no."

Danny, who had made sure to tell Jazz about the stuff that Suki said to him yesterday, asked her, "What do you think that prophecy could mean?"

"Well, it probably has to have something to do with you, otherwise there wouldn't have been much point for it to have been said to you."

Danny sighed as the toast popped up, "Maybe. But what could this ancient lair be? I almost had an idea yesterday."

"Well, how many lairs in the Ghost Zone do you know of?"

Danny shrugged, "I don't know. I've seen a lot." He then grabbed his toast and then his backpack, and started to the door, "I'll eat on the way. See you later, Jazz!"

Jazz quickly called out, "Hold up, Danny! You forgot a book!"

She then threw one of his textbooks to him. Danny wasn't expecting the throw, so he couldn't react quick enough to catch it. He juggled it a bit before it fell to the floor, falling open on a page near the end of the book.

He sighed, "Great. I'll just…"

But his voice trailed off. His eyes started to open wide as he saw what was in front of him.

Noticing her brother's look of astonishment, Jazz said, "Danny? What's wrong?"

In a flash, Danny picked up the book and read it closely to his face.

Jazz then asked him, noticing which book it was he was reading with such a frantic intent, "Since when did you get so interested in Latin?"

Danny mumbled quietly to himself, "I can't believe I was so stupid."

"What?" Jazz asked, not hearing him.

"Look!" Danny barked as he showed Jazz the page that he had been reading. He then pointed to a word down near the bottom of the page. When she saw what word it translated, her eyes went wide too.

She read out loud the translation, "Tempus: time."

Danny then said what both of them were thinking, "The prophecy. 'Even the tempus lord shall lose.' The time lord, inside an ancient lair. Clockwork! His lair has to be ancient!"

"Time out," rang a soft voice.

In an instant, everything stopped. Danny and Jazz stood perfectly still, and everything else had stopped in the motion it was just in.

A swirling vortex then appeared, and finally the shape of Clockwork appeared. He was currently an infant as he pulled out a pair of time medallions and placed them around their necks.

The two of them blinked a few times, and then gasped as they saw Clockwork there.

Danny said, "Clockwork?"

Clockwork became an adult as he responded, "Hello again to you too, Danny." He turned to Jazz and added, "Greetings to you, Jasmine."

Jazz gave a small wave as Clockwork turned back to Danny, saying, "Congratulations. You've finally figured out one part of the prophecy. Now it should be easy to unravel the rest of it. This isn't math, after all."

Danny scowled and thought again.

"'When a burst doth occur here'. A burst…"

He then gasped again as he yelled, "A burst from the Fenton Thermos! My future self! He's gonna get lose!"

"Correction," Clockwork said solemnly as he became a senior, "He already has. Two nights ago, he finally broke free."

Jazz looked frightened as she asked, "But why couldn't you stop him? You're the master of all time?"

"He might not exist in the current timeline anymore, but he does exist outside of time. Therefore, my power does not affect him. There was nothing I could do."

Danny then asked, "But what's the part about him being almighty mean? I could still beat him last time; that shouldn't mean he's almighty. Only ghost I haven't actually won against was the Ghost King."

Clockwork was silent. He looked at Danny with a grave look on his face as he again became an infant.

Danny then slapped his forehead as he said, "Don't tell me he's loose too."

"Very well, then," Clockwork said, "I won't."

"And it says the only hope is who resembles…my future self. Me."

Jazz had her hands on her face and her nails had dug partially into her skin from holding it so tight as she said, "What are the details? Why are they both free?"

"Phantom freed him. He obviously realizes that after his debacle last time, he's obviously going to need help."

Danny asked, "But why are…?"

But Clockwork quickly interrupted, "I'm sorry, Danny, but I have to leave. The important thing for now is, you know how to prepare. Alert your friends. They will be your greatest source of assistance. Good luck to you."

Danny and Jazz were both silent as another vortex appeared created by Clockwork's staff, and he disappeared, with the medallions disappearing as well.

* * *

"So to make a long story short," Danny said to Sam and Tucker in a hallway at school with a grim look on his face, "My evil future self and the ghost king are both free, and I'm apparently the world's only hope to stop them!" 

Sam quickly put her hands up, "Danny, calm down! It could be worse."

"Really?" Danny sneered with a raised eyebrow, "How?"

Sam was silent.

"Exactly."

Tucker stated, "Dude, relax. You've beaten them before."

"But not at the same time! How am I going to get out of this one?"

Sam suddenly pointed out the window and said, "Well, you might want to figure out how sooner rather than later."

Danny turned around and looked outside. They weren't the only ones as students and teachers across Casper High looked out the window and saw the sight.

Ghosts. Hundreds, no thousands of ghosts were shooting through the air like crazy, all flying off in different directions, originating from the area of Fenton Works.

"Just like last time," Danny said quietly as he saw a large number of ghosts were flying above the school.

The three of them dashed over to a broom closet at the end of the hall while the students chattered in awe. Danny ran inside as Sam and Tucker guarded the door. Two seconds later, Danny Phantom flew up and through the ceiling to face the threat outside.

He fired a ghost ray at one round of them, but he was then tackled by Skulker and was driven down onto the roof of the school.

"Let me guess," Danny grunted, "The ghost king has chased you all away from the Ghost Zone again."

"Bravo," Ember said farther up as she slowly clapped her hands, "Give the kid a prize."

The dragon known as Prince Eragon then sneered, "But do not think we can't have a little reunion, you peasant."

Skulker then said with a sinister smile, "Especially since you've been having your way with us more than usual lately."

Danny quickly shot upward into the air, sending a fast ball of energy at them. Several were smart to dodge it and Ember blasted a note from her guitar at him. Danny was hit and knocked down, where the young pirate Youngblood blasted him with a cannonball out of his leg from below him.

Danny was hit again and knocked for a loop. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Technus and Johnny 13 flying at him at once. Danny quickly swung his leg around and struck Johnny on the right, knocking him into Technus on the left and sending them both flying.

Eragon shot a flame out of his mouth at Danny from behind, but he quickly avoided the blow and fired a ghost ray. The spoiled prince quickly held his tail up in front of the shot and blocked the blow. He then swung his tail out to hit Danny.

The ghost boy quickly grabbed onto the tail. He then swung Eragon around and around in circles while the other ghosts converged on him, and finally let go.

With a great crash, Eragon struck almost ten ghosts at once, sending them falling downward, landing hard in the street.

But five more ghosts jumped right on top of Danny, punching and kicking him.

Thinking fast, Danny projected his dome and, using total concentration, he expanded the dome farther and farther outward, until they were knocked away from him.

As soon as Danny stopped with the dome, he took a deep breath, feeling noticeably weakened. He had put a lot of energy into that dome.

He was then struck from behind as Ember swung her guitar at him. It knocked him into a grove of trees. Thinking fast, he used a small ghost ray to break one large branch off the tree. He then caught it and flew back up into the fray.

While the ghosts watched Danny with the huge branch, Danny smirked and said coolly.

"Batter up."

He swung the branch around, striking a number of ghosts, including Skulker, and knocking them away. Several others fired ghost rays, but they merely made holes in the branch.

But Danny gasped as Eragon suddenly shot fire at the branch. It struck and lit the branch on fire.

Not wanting his hands to be burned, Danny was forced to throw the branch. The ghosts flew out of the way and the branch dropped down and landed in a field, setting fire to it.

Wanting to use his ghostly wail but feeling it would be unwise, Danny fired multiple ghost rays to his foes. They didn't hit, but he found some room to fly away from them while they flew out of the way from the blasts.

Danny found himself suddenly chasing Youngblood and his parrot through the skies. He looked behind him and saw the other ghosts were following. Danny quickly fired a ball of energy at them and it struck, sending them all falling a short distance. Those who weren't hit scattered.

Smiling, Danny kept following Youngblood through the skies. The little captain's hand opened up into a metal blaster and he fired a glowing red ball of energy at him. Danny flew around the attack and fired a ghost ray.

"Aargh, matey!" Youngblood shouted, "Ye shall be swabbin' the poop deck fer' that!"

The parrot then spoke, "You're getting better, I'll admit that."

Danny then barked, "This isn't a pirate ship, kid, but you're about to walk the plank!" He then fired another ghost ray, but Youngblood phased inside an old building just before the blast reached him.

Danny scowled as he phased inside as well.

Once inside, Danny took a quick look around. It was what looked to be an abandoned library. Book cases had the paint peeling off them, books were scattered all across the room, and Youngblood was nowhere to be found.

Careful just in case the little guy might be invisible, Danny flew slowly through the room, calling out, "What, are we playing hide and seek now, kid?"

He heard no answer and kept moving. Looking around the cases to see if Youngblood was on the other side or not. Danny was getting dejected as he noticed that his ghost sense wasn't going off.

But he was shaken out of that dejection when he heard a faint click.

Danny slowly turned to where he had heard it coming from. He saw that between one pair of books on one of the shelves, there was a glowing pink light.

And then, a feminine voice that made him gasp.

"I've finally got you, Phantom."

_Whoo! That chapter was fun to write! Well, now the ghosts are once again abandoning the Ghost Zone in search of safety in the real world, which spells nothing but bad news for Danny! It's looking like "Reign Storm" all over again, but trust me. It's going to be worse. Much worse._

_Can anyone guess who that voice belongs to? I bet you can. Look out for Chapter 10, coming soon!_


	10. Teen Grudge Match

_What's up, ya'll? I've gotten tied up with things lately, so there's been something of a wait. I may get busy with school over the next few weeks, so I may not be able to update as much as I want to._

_But be happy that I'm updating now! Chapter 10 is here!_

**Phantom Prophecy**

**Chapter Ten: Teen Grudge Match**

Danny clearly had not been expecting a scenario like this when he first flew into that building. He was just chasing Youngblood and his parrot. He had gotten away from the many other ghosts after him, and had only one to deal with.

Now, it had come to this. Youngblood was nowhere in sight, and instead, Danny found himself staring down a glowing pink light from a rifle that he couldn't see. And judging from the voice and how those words were spoken, Danny knew exactly who wielded the weapon.

He sighed, "You just never want to give me a break, do you, Valerie?"

"Not for a second," Valerie Gray answered coldly as she pulled the trigger and fired.

With lightning fast reflexes that had developed over the many months of having his powers, Danny jumped out of the way. The blast shot into a bookcase, knocking it into another one, causing a domino effect that sent all the bookcases crashing down to the floor.

Danny then asked her, "Don't you find it a little pathetic that you usually do more damage to solid objects than to me?"

Valerie spat back as she pushed some more books out of the way before climbing between one of the shelves so she was now standing right in front of the ghost boy, "Don't _you_ find it a little pathetic that you always run away like a coward whenever you meet me?"

And before Danny could respond, Valerie fired again. Danny quickly ducked and the blast passed over his head.

Danny then called out to her, "How did you find me here anyway?"

"I thank my supplier for that." Valerie then brought out the silver device that she had received yesterday and continued, "A Ghost DNA Tracker. And I have to thank you as well, for leaving behind some of your hair during our little meeting yesterday. Now that I have your DNA, there won't be any place for you to hide. I will find you, no matter where you go."

At this, Danny felt as though his heart had stopped beating. _A tracker,_ he thought to himself, _What if she'll be able to find me whether I'm ghost _or_ human? I'm going to have to get that thing away from her. If I can't…she's just a hop, skip, and a jump away from discovering my secret._

Danny quickly jumped into the air and started flying towards Valerie with his leg outstretched in an attempt to kick her. Valerie's board quickly formed as she flew upwards and passed only just over Danny. She then turned her board around and fired her ecto-grenade launcher at him.

By this time, Danny was still flying in the same direction he had been when he tried to kick Valerie, but he had his head turned around. He quickly diverted his body inwards so that the blast just missed him. He then fired a ghost ray at his opponent.

This time Valerie was hit by the blast and knocked backward. She looked rattled for a second but quickly regained her poise and threw a few discs at him.

Danny was ready to dodge them, but just then, the discs suddenly burst apart in mid-air, sending smoke spreading throughout the room. It was so thick that Danny couldn't see through it.

But before he could think to act, Valerie's board suddenly tore through the smoke like a knife through butter, striking him in the abdomen and knocking him down hard.

Valerie flew the other way before making a U-turn, coming back towards Danny for another assault with her jet board. This time, however, Danny rolled over and Valerie missed him.

"Look!" Danny shouted as Valerie turned around again, "I don't want to hurt you!"

"When are you ever going to quit with those stupid lies?"

"Until you realize that I'm actually telling the truth! Why won't you believe me? Why won't you trust me?"

As she fired again from her ecto-grenade launcher, Valerie responded, "Because you don't deserve it! You have been given opportunity after opportunity to prove that you aren't as bad as I think you are, and you always just blow it away! And then when I have you at my mercy, you keep making excuses for it, and eventually run away!"

Danny grunted, "You know, you really have a habit for misunderstanding things."

Valerie growled as she fired another laser from her wrist at the ghost boy. This one hit and Danny was knocked into a wall. Valerie then threw another trio of discs, these ones thrown in an attempt to eliminate him right there, but Danny quickly phased through the wall and out of sight.

The hunter just gave a dry chuckle as she checked her scanner, saying, "Not this time."

Danny flew down through the floors of the library until he found a very large room that was without bookshelves. He guessed they had been taken away when the library went out of business. He wasn't running away; he just felt that he needed a little more room than he had to stand a better chance of getting that tracker. And after he did that…well, he would worry about that then.

Sure enough, no more than ten seconds after he had arrived in that room did he hear a large blast. He looked up and saw Valerie flying through her own entrance. Her own entrance, of course, was a hole in the wall that Valerie made using a few small rockets.

Valerie then fired several more rockets at Danny. He quickly projected a dome and the rockets bounced away.

As Danny put the dome down, Valerie diverted her board straight downward so it would drive Danny straight into the floor, surely causing a lot of damage. Danny quickly jumped out of the way.

But as he did, Valerie suddenly jumped off her board and landed right on top of Danny, holding him against the floor.

Danny struggled to get free of Valerie's strong grip, but she held tight. He then tried to phase through the floor, but realized he couldn't; Valerie's suit must have prevented it.

With hatred in her eyes, Valerie then brought out her wrist laser and pointed it right at Danny's temple.

Danny gasped and yelped, "Wait! You don't want to do this! Trust me!"

"Trust you? Haven't we gone through this crud already?"

"You might not know it now, but eliminate me, and I have a feeling you're going to be very sorry for it afterwards."

Valerie's look of rage changed to a look of confusion. It was at Phantom's words, and at what she saw in Phantom's eyes.

_Those eyes, _she found herself thinking,_ There's something about them. Something familiar._

The glowing green eyes that Danny Phantom sported were not exactly like any other eyes she'd seen, but there was definitely something about them that reminded her of someone. And his personality. Sometimes he got a little clumsy and weird, just like another person she knew. And that bandage on his face. She had recalled seeing that bandage on that same person's face.

_Danny,_ she thought to herself. _But how could he possibly…_

Realizing now he had a perfect opportunity right in front of him, Danny broke away from Valerie's loosened grip, reached inside her pocket, and pulled out the Ghost DNA Tracker.

Thinking fast, Danny then shone a bright light in his hand. Valerie was nearly blinded by the light and was forced to look away.

Danny then shot up into the air and lobbed the tracker high above his head. He then powered up a ghost ray and fired.

But out of nowhere, Valerie had recovered from the bright light and had struck Danny in the waist with one of her lasers. The ghost ray went off target and blasted a hole in the ceiling.

While Danny was dazed, Valerie quickly jumped up into the air, grabbed the tracker right out of the air, flipped once, and then landed back on the ground with great ease.

As Danny watched this, he couldn't help but think, _Man, why is she not a cheerleader?_

Valerie then turned back to Danny, with that look of rage back in her eyes. She then snarled, "You have officially gotten on my last nerve!"

She then let out a loud scream as she raised her arms up above her head, and let the glowing blade appear in her hands.

Despite the seriousness of the situation, Danny couldn't help but say, "I'm guessing you're mad now."

Valerie didn't answer. Instead she sprinted towards Danny, swinging her blade wildly in an attempt to cut him in half. Danny quickly jumped up and dodged it. Valerie pivoted and swung again, but Danny ducked the blow. He then swept his leg through Valerie and tripped her up.

Danny then fired a ghost ray at her and it struck gold, knocking her down and sending her bouncing into the wall, where she slid down to the bottom, her body upside down.

The ghost boy then shot straight towards Valerie in an attempt to grab the tracker again, but Valerie quickly aimed her wrist laser at him while still upside down. She fired and struck the unsuspecting Danny Phantom, knocking him down and sending him skidding along the ground until he hit the wall on the other side of the room.

Valerie then jumped back onto her jet board and shot straight at Danny. She fired her ecto-grenade launcher at him, but again Danny quickly phased through the wall and out of the room. The blast, however, made a hole in the wall, showing Danny outside the library in a crouching position on the ground.

Valerie then fired another rifle at him, but instead of a laser, this one fired a net. Danny, however, reacted quickly and projected a shield with his arms. The net hit the shield and fell straight down.

Danny then fired a ball of energy at Valerie, but Valerie flew out of the way and again swung her blade at him, and this time, it appeared that it was going to hit pay dirt. But at the last moment, Danny pulled back, and the blade missed him by less than an inch.

Not to be outdone, Valerie jumped off her board again and gave Danny a crushing kick right in the face. Green blood was shed from Danny's face as Danny was driven down to the ground.

Valerie then swung her blade straight down at Danny, but Danny cleverly shot right underneath her legs and she missed.

At this point, Danny decided he wanted to end it right now. He was getting tired; he had just endured a massive fight with his old ghostly enemies, and now he was engaged in a fierce duel with Valerie that seemed to want to go on for a long while.

He finally opened his mouth and let loose his ghostly wail. Powerful waves of energy shot out in all directions, knocking Valerie flying and sending the old library crashing down to the ground.

Danny kept it up for a few more seconds before quickly stopping. He couldn't afford to change back into human, and he didn't, but it did weaken him enough to force him down to his knees.

From inside a pile of wood, Valerie crawled slowly out. She was down, but not out quite yet, as she slowly rose to her feet.

She looked tired as well as she stated, "That's some power, spook. But now you're out of options." She wielded her blade again and added, "And out of surprises."

As she sprinted towards Danny, he took off up into the air. He wanted to keep dodging until he had his energy back, but who knew how long that would take? The battle could be over at any second, and definitely not in the way Danny would prefer.

Valerie then fired a trio of discs at Danny in the air. Again, Danny dodged two of them, but this time, he was just too exhausted to avoid the third. It hit and sent a painful jolt of electricity through his body. It stopped after a few good seconds and he dropped to the ground, on his back.

Danny slowly started back up, but as he looked up towards Valerie, he saw as a net was again shot at him. With not enough time, nor the energy to dodge, the net wrapped around him, trapping him inside in a cramped position.

"Aw, geez!" Danny complained in frustration. He couldn't think of a way out now. He didn't have the energy to phase through it, and he wasn't even sure he would be able to even if he did.

Valerie this time did not have a look of rage or hatred in her eyes as she slowly walked towards him. Instead, her eyes were cold and seemingly lifeless. Whether she was tired or bored or whatever, Danny didn't know. All he did know was that this look in her eyes was much, much worse than her usual look of animosity.

"No way out this time, Phantom," Valerie said simply as she tapped her blade.

Danny looked at her with fear in her eyes for a second. Then finally he just took a deep breath and said sadly, "Then go ahead. I've said all I need to say. We'll see how you feel once you go and do it."

Valerie was quite surprised at hearing this, and her face now showed it.

_What is he doing?_ she thought to herself, _He's not begging. He's not pleading. He's not making up excuses or lies to try and save himself. He's just gonna go and take it. But why?_

Danny looked somewhat hopeful as he looked at Valerie. He honestly didn't know what she was going to do at this point. He had expected her to behead him right there, but now he wasn't sure. He had hoped for this to happen by telling her to just do away with him. Maybe then she would listen a little longer.

After what seemed like an eternity, Valerie shook off her confused look and regained her nerve. She then stated coldly, "This is over."

She swung her blade upward.

"Not so fast," an even colder voice full of malice suddenly rang out.

Valerie quickly spun around, as she and Danny both looked to where the voice had come from. They both gasped.

_Oh, what a chapter! Lots and lots and LOTS of action involving two teenagers going all-out! Right now, Valerie has Danny at her mercy, but who shows up now? And is she still having second thoughts about our favorite ghost boy?_

_Well, you're just gonna have to wait and find out! As far as who shows up, you'll find out in Chapter 11! R/R!_


	11. The Brutal Reunion

_Hey, guys! Everything good? Everything good for me; that's for sure! At the moment, I am really pumped for what's going on tonight! At 7:30, the Teen Titans movie "Trouble in Tokyo" first airs! And at 8:00, it's Avatar: The Last Airbender "Secret of the Fire Nation"! I'll be watching TT live and recording Avatar so I don't miss anything. I am fired up for both!_

_But on another note, I am still quite disappointed that I haven't gotten a whole lot of reviews, despite the fact that the fic's gotten a lot of hits. So I ask you, after you read a new chapter, PLEASE review it. It helps me update sooner. I want to please my readers with fast updates, but you got to play your part and review so I will give you fast updates._

_Alright, that's enough babbling. Here is Chapter 11! Who has arrived to interrupt Danny and Valerie?_

**Phantom Prophecy**

**Chapter Eleven: The Brutal Reunion**

Although Danny was expecting something like this at some point, Danny was not expecting this to happen so soon. As thankful as he was at the new guest for distracting Valerie, he couldn't help but think that he had fallen into something much, much worse.

He looked ahead of him and saw him. His future self from the alternate timeline in which everyone he held dear was gone. Since that ordeal, not a day had gone by that he wondered where he was.

And right now, he had his answer.

Dark Danny snarled, "Step aside, Valerie. He's mine."

Valerie shook of her look of astonishment and snapped, "I don't think so, ghost!" She immediately fired a blast from her ecto-grenade launcher. Dan easily ducked the blow and gave Valerie a punch right in the face, knocking her down.

He then stated with an evil smirk, "You always did have the tendency to charge straight into battle without thinking."

Valerie growled as she stood up, barking, "Who are you?" She then stepped back a few steps and fired a trio of discs straight at him.

Dan simply laughed as he duplicated into three. All three of them then simply shot the discs with separate ghost rays. The discs broke apart in mid-air, leaving Valerie looking stunned.

To answer her question, Dan sneered, "You mean you don't see the resemblance?"

Valerie took notice of his features. The hair, the emblem, the colors, they were all reminiscent of the very ghost boy that she had trapped in a net.

Danny then shouted, "How did you get here? What are you doing here? And how did you get out of the thermos?"

"Well," Dan smirked, his voice sending chills down Danny's spine, "You decide to speak. Honestly, did you really think that ridiculous invention of our parents would keep me locked up like some common criminal forever?"

"Hey, you _are_ a criminal!" Danny barked, "And nowhere near common, that's for sure."

"Parents?" Valerie retorted, looking puzzled, "Ghosts can have parents? And are you two related?" She paused for a few seconds, and then gasped, "You came here to release the ghost kid so you both could finish me off!"

Dan laughed as he put his hand up, "Not quite, Valerie. It's…"

"And how do you know who I am?" Valerie interrupted.

"I'm coming to that," Dan snapped, now looking agitated as he pointed to Danny, "That weakling is who I used to be. He was once destined to be me ten years from now, but after a few certain mishaps, that is no longer possible. And you, you remained my enemy all those years. So before I eliminate him, I think it's time to finally finish what I started. Ten years ago."

He then sent an ectoplasmic band at Valerie, which quickly wrapped around her ankles. He then swung Valerie around and threw her. She went crashing into a tree, knocking off several sticks and leaves.

Valerie then snarled as she flew off on her board, "You are going to pay for that!"

She then brought out her blade and swung it at him. Dan quickly dodged it and tried to punch her. Valerie dodged that and fired several rockets at him. They hit and knocked Dan down.

Valerie jumped onto the ground herself and looked down at him.

But just like lightning, Dan shot up and tackled Valerie, pinning her against the ground.

He then smiled, "By the way, nice new suit. Did you buy it used?"

Valerie growled at being mocked like that. Her board then flew off the ground by itself and shot towards Dan, striking him in the back of the head. While he was dazed, Valerie slipped away from him.

By this time, Danny had regained some of his energy. It wasn't a whole lot, but it was enough to allow him to phase out of the net.

He then shouted, "Watch yourself, old man!" He then fired a ghost ray out of both hands at his future self.

Dan turned and quickly saw the blast coming, and produced a shield with his hands and blocked it.

"I beat you last time!" Danny spat.

"You got lucky, and you know it," Dan responded, "Besides, you know you can't beat me in this little meeting. You don't have enough energy to launch your little ghostly wail. I'd be expecting it this time, anyway."

Valerie quickly fired a laser at Dan from behind and it hit, knocking him down. She then yelled, "Maybe he can't beat you, but I can!"

Dan groaned in annoyance, "You've been a bee in my bonnet for a long ten years, Valerie." He then duplicated into two. One turned to face Valerie, and the other turned to face Danny.

Valerie swung her blade multiple times at Phantom, but he kept dodging. On the last attempt aimed for his head, Dan tilted his head back at an unnatural angle, so that he was facing the ground behind him!

The teenage hunter couldn't help but be positively shocked at seeing this, similar to how Jazz was those months ago when Dan had turned his head completely around.

He then fired a powerful ghost ray at her, knocking her into a telephone pole.

Danny jumped away from the punch attack and struck back with a ghost ray, but Dan ducked it and kicked out, striking Danny in the stomach, and knocking him down.

He panted a few times, growing tired. He was fighting mostly on adrenaline here, with most of his energy wasted on the fights with his foes a while ago and with Valerie, not to mention the ghostly wail he had used minutes ago.

Danny quickly fired a ball of energy at Dan, but he quickly swung his ectoplasmic band at it and wrapped around it.

Dan then sneered, "My turn."

He then swung the energy ball around several times before launching it. With no time to dodge, Danny was struck head-on, sending painful energy coursing through his body and sending him crashing to the ground, making an imprint of himself where he had fallen.

Valerie quickly fired her wrist laser at Dan, and then quickly hid back behind the pole without even checking to see if the laser had hit him. She wasn't used to fighting like this, firing and then hiding. But this wasn't like any other battle.

She then peered back around the pole, only to receive a nasty surprise as Dan was standing right in front of her, smiling sinisterly.

She had no time to react as Dan grabbed her and started shocking her. Valerie could only scream for a few seconds, and then Dan let go, letting her drop to the ground. At this, her huntress outfit disappeared, revealing her trademark clothes as she fell unconscious.

"Valerie!" Danny cried.

Dan formed back into one and sneered, "What do you care, anyway? What's the point of caring about somebody who has her guns blazing whenever she sees you?"

Danny looked slightly nervous as he answered, "Because…because she's still a person! That's something someone like you would never understand!

"So why are you back, anyway? I'm not turning into you!"

Dan quickly snapped, "I don't care about that anymore. I exist whether you turn into me or not. So that means…that there's nothing to stop me from wasting you by myself."

Danny gasped.

Dan saw this and taunted, "Aw, what's the matter, Danny? Afraid of your own reflection?"

Danny barked fiercely, "I am nothing like you!"

"No, you're not," Dan stated matter-of-factly, "When it comes to power, that is." And to make his point, Phantom fired a powerful ghost ray that struck Danny head-on, knocking him to the ground again.

"On the ground," Dan smirked as he walked towards Danny, "Just the way I remember getting rid of you. My weakness. The same way I had done ten years in my past. And with you just about out of energy, there's nothing you can do this time."

But out of nowhere, Dan was suddenly struck in the head by a red laser, knocking him down to the ground.

He growled as he looked up in surprise and saw Sam and Tucker running towards the two ghosts lying on the ground.

Tucker quickly shouted, "Danny, duck!" He then fired a laser that Danny recognized as one of his parents'. Dan quickly dodged the attack, as well as a shot that Sam fired immediately afterward.

"Well, isn't this a surprise," Dan said nonchalantly.

Sam snapped at him, weapon ready, "You leave him alone!"

"Or what?"

"Or this!" Danny shouted as he gave Dan an unexpected punch in the face. He then flew in for a kick, but Dark Danny had already recovered as he fired a pair of green beams out of his eyes. They struck Danny and sent him for a flip through the air.

While Sam and Tucker fired again, Valerie slowly opened her eyes. She looked up and saw the Goth girl and the techno-geek fighting the powerful ghost that had just knocked her out. She hesitated, and then allowed her suit to reform. She then fired from her ecto-grenade launcher. This one struck Dan, who wasn't expecting it, and knocked him into a stop sign, knocking it down.

He growled in exasperation as he flew back towards the teens, saying, "You're almost as stubborn as I am, Gray. But that'll only get you so far." He then fired eyebeams at her and she quickly avoided it, mounting her board and flying away from the beams.

Danny quickly fired a ball of energy at Dan, but he dodged it. He then fired multiple ghost rays at Danny, Sam, Tucker, and Valerie. They frantically jumped away from the attacks, but as they landed, Dan sent a round of ectoplasmic waves along the ground, striking all of them and knocking them down.

Valerie quickly stood up and ran towards him, her blade reappearing as she swung it at him. But this time, Dan's arms shot out as he grabbed hold of the blade, holding it firmly in place between his hands.

All four of them watched in awe as Dan started to glow green. A charge of ectoplasmic energy was coursing through his body and went straight to his arms, and before anyone even knew it, Valerie's blade suddenly broke apart, the pieces falling to the ground before disintegrating.

"How did he do that?" Danny wondered out loud.

Without missing a beat, Dan kicked Valerie hard, knocking her down, before turning to Danny, saying, "You're next, kid."

Sam and Tucker fired at him, but Dan quickly became his green goopy form and the shots went through him as he charged straight at Danny through the air. The ghost boy had no time to react as his former older self delivered a devastating punch right in the ribs.

Danny heard something crack as he was sent flying and landed on the ground hard. He wheezed as he struggled to get back up.

Danny then felt the hair on back of his neck stand up as Dan started laughing in a cruel and soft tone. Sam and Tucker made wild jumps at him, but he simply knocked them aside and walked towards Danny.

He then said, "Did you honestly think you stood a chance against me, Danny?"

Seeing this happening, Valerie quickly shouted, "Hey, spook!"

Dan turned towards her as she fired another trio of sparkling discs at him. But like before, they instead broke apart in mid-air, sending thick black smoke spreading across the air, leaving Dan coughing and gasping for breath.

Sam and Tucker hurriedly ran over to Danny. They were able to get him off the ground, where he started leaning on them for support. Sam then quickly whispered, "We have to get out of here."

"On it," Danny whispered as he managed to fly the three of them up into the air, using pretty much all of his strength to get them away from the area.

Down where they had just departed from moments ago, the smoke was disappearing, leaving Dan standing in one place. He looked up one way and saw Danny, Sam, and Tucker, flying far away.

He simply said, "I'll bet I really rattled him now."

Then he turned the other way and saw Valerie zooming away through the air on her jet board.

He scoffed, "Yeah, I knew even she couldn't be reckless enough to stick around any longer."

Without another word, he waved his hand as it glowed green. A portal large enough for him to step through opened into the Ghost Zone, and he calmly stepped through.

* * *

On the verge of collapse, Danny managed to phase the three of them through the wall and into the safety of his bedroom, where he dropped Sam and Tucker before transforming back into Danny Fenton, and falling to the floor. 

"Danny!" Sam said worriedly as she and Tucker got down on the floor next to him. He had several scratches and bruises on his face and arms, and it was easy to see that his lower stomach was punctured where Dark Danny had punched him.

He groaned as they helped him up into his bed.

Tucker asked him, "Dude, what happened out there?"

Danny sighed, "Well, after I went ghost, I ran into a bunch of my old foes, we fought, I got to chasing Youngblood into an old library, he disappeared, Valerie showed up, we fought, eventually fell outside, my future self showed up, and Valerie and I started fighting him before you guys finally showed up.

"Hey, how did you guys get there anyway?"

Sam answered, "School was called early because of the ghost attack."

Tucker then picked up, "Then we saw you using your ghostly wail. We figured you'd be in trouble, so we grabbed a few of your mom and dad's gadgets and rushed over."

Danny grunted, "Well, thanks for showing up. If you hadn't, I would've been toast."

Outside, they saw a glowing green light being extended downward to the ground. The Fenton Ghost Shield had been put up.

Tucker asked the two of them, "So what do we do now?"

"Well, for now," Sam said to Danny, "You need to rest. You've taken way too much of a beating out there. And things are starting to die down, anyway."

Danny asked her, "Well, what happens when the ghost king and his army show up too?"

Tucker groaned, "I wish we still had that ecto-skeleton."

Hearing this, Danny thought for a minute, remembering what his parents had been working on for the last couple of days. Then he gave a small smile, "Guys."

Tucker and Sam turned toward him, showing that they were paying attention.

"I think I have an idea."

_And there goes Chapter 11! I didn't think this chapter would be very long, but a few new ideas kept forming, and you got what you just read. And now I present to you something very special that I have never given for any of my stories before._

_It's a sneak peek to Chapter 12! I've wanted to give you guys one for a while, but just never got around to it. Check it out, folks!_

* * *

_**Sneak Peek: (Chapter 12)**_

_Danny was knocked down to the ground but quickly recovered as he sent out a ball of energy. It struck the skeletons head-on and knocked them for a loop._

_Thankful at the fact that this was a very small group of Pariah's ghostly skeletons, Danny grabbed hold of one of the skeletons by its ankles and threw it headlong into the remaining ones. It hit and they all barreled into each other, falling down._

_He smiled and commented, "I'm thinking the ghost king should try digging up some more graves."_

_Danny then flew into an alley between buildings, and calmly transformed back into Danny Fenton._

_He then heard a familiar voice gasp, "Danny?"_

_Instantly alert, Danny spun around to where he heard the voice. He saw who had just gasped and gasped himself._

* * *

_Chapter 12 is coming soon!_


	12. Old Allies and New Problems

_How is everything, folks? I was relatively satisfied with the amount of reviews I got, but I had a lot of homework yesterday so I just couldn't find time to update it._

_On another note, I was PSYCHED at how the Teen Titans movie went on Friday night! And Avatar was pretty sweet as well! Also, on Saturday, my high school football team won their game 17-6 to go 2-0, and my New York Giants came back from 24-7 to beat the hated Eagles 30-24 in overtime! I was REALLY nervous during that fourth quarter and overtime; I couldn't sit down._

_But right now, it's all about the Danny Phantom! Chapter 12 has arrived!_

**Phantom Prophecy**

**Chapter Twelve: Old Allies and New Problems**

The ghost shield was still up, but the ghost attacks had died down early the next morning as Danny and Jazz stood down in the basement of Fenton Works, while Jack and Maddie stood together a few yards away from them.

Jazz sighed, "Dad, do you mind telling me why you called Danny and me down here at a time where we should be getting ready for school?"

Jack answered with a cheerful grin, "Not to worry, princess. This shouldn't take much longer than a minute."

Maddie explained, "We're nearly done with our new Fenton Patch. We've gone through a number of test runs, and it should be able to provide the same increase in power as our old Fenton Ecto-Skeleton."

Danny then spoke with a smile on his face, "So I'm guessing we could probably use that patch to, oh, say, get rid of all the ghosts that have invaded the town?"

"You got it, son," Jack said cheerfully.

This was exactly what Danny had in mind. He had explained to Sam and Tucker last night that he planned to perhaps use the patch in order to increase his power enough to get rid of all the ghosts, and that he would tell them as soon as he was sure that it was operational.

Maddie then said, "Just a few more tweaks and it should be finished completely. I only wish we had a chance to test it out during a real battle."

Just then, the four of them began to feel something. The ground was shaking all throughout the basement. The vibrations were definitely the strongest closest to the Fenton Portal, the doorway to the Ghost Zone.

It didn't take long for Danny to realize what was happening. Pariah's army was invading.

After several moments of banging and pounding, the door to the Fenton Portal was blasted off its hinges and straight towards Jack.

But unlike last time, someone helped, as Maddie quickly pushed Jack out of the door's path. It instead struck her and knocked her down to the ground.

"Maddie!" Jack cried as he pulled the door off her, "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, Jack," Maddie replied quickly as skeletons began flying into the room, one after another, and began to phase out through the walls.

The husband and wife quickly ran over and grabbed a few of their weapons and tried firing, but it was already too late. Only a few of the ghostly skeletons remained in the room as they fired, and they were able to get away.

"The ghosts," Maddie said as she quickly grabbed the Fenton Patch, "They're heading into the city! Come on, Jack!" She hurried up the stairs, followed by Jack. Danny and Jazz hesitated, and then followed.

Jack and Maddie reached the door before Maddie quickly spun around towards her children, "No. You two are to stay here in the house where it's safe. Shut the portal downstairs, and do not leave this house."

Danny started, "But Mom…"

"That is an order, young man," Maddie said sharply as she turned around and headed out the door with Jack.

Danny and Jazz turned to each other. Jazz then grabbed hold of her brother's shoulders and said, "You head out the back door and do whatever you can. I'll go shut the portal and get a few weapons. Then I'll join you. Well, you know, not _join you,_ join you, but…"

"I get what you mean," Danny said quickly, still remembering the incident a few months ago when Jazz tried to fight ghosts with him. He then turned around and ran toward the back door.

"Oh, and Danny?" Jazz called out.

Danny turned around at hearing his name called.

Jazz took a deep breath and said softly, "Be careful."

Danny gave a small smile, "Thanks, Jazz."

He then continued back to the back door, while Jazz raced back down to the basement.

Danny quickly pulled out his cellphone as he ran outside and dialed a number. He passed through the ghost shield, and transformed into Danny Phantom as he heard the phone being answered.

"Hello?"

"Sam, it's Danny. We got an emergency."

"What's going on?" Sam asked, sounding worried.

"Ghost attack. The ghost king's army just broke through the portal a few minutes ago, and they're escaping into the city. Look out your window!"

Sam hurried over to the window of her bedroom and looked out. On the streets, she saw Pariah's ghostly skeletons climbing across roofs, marching down on the streets, and pretty much destroying anything in their paths.

Now looking frantic, she asked Danny, "What are we going to do?"

Seeing a bunch of skeletons down below him, Danny spoke quickly, "Just warn Tucker and arm yourselves however you can. Meet me at the park ASAP."

"Alright. Bye, Danny."

"Bye, Sam."

Danny heard Sam hang up and he did the same. He then boldly put himself into a nosedive position as he charged straight towards the skeletons on the ground. He then powered up a ball of energy and fired. Several were hit and knocked in all directions.

But a lot more were storming the area. People were running away screaming as Danny fired ghost ray after ghost ray at the skeletons. But they were now dodging Danny's attacks, and responding with swinging their swords and kicking out with ball-and-chains around their ankles.

Danny knew this was a relatively large group of skeletons and was sure he'd need help. But who knew when Sam, Tucker, or Jazz arrived.

Several skeletons attempted to jump on top of him from above. Thinking fast, he projected his dome, causing the skeletons to hit it and either stuck there or slid down it.

Danny then phased into the ground and out of sight, and then quickly reappeared in a skeleton-free piece of grass. He then fired a ghost ray that missed everything, and was then quickly ambushed from behind by several more skeletons. They tackled him and began slashing him with their swords, causing him to scream out in pain.

"Leave him alone!" a voice cried as a red blast was shot at the skeletons, hitting them and knocking them down.

Danny looked up and spotted Jazz running towards him.

He couldn't help but say, "Man, Jazz, what took you so long?"

Jazz basically ignored the annoyance in Danny's voice and said, "Well, I ran into a pair of ghosts who said that they knew you, and _didn't_ want to try to eliminate you."

Danny saw as a pair of ghosts materialized on Jazz's sides. One was a large hairy ghost with a green suit, whiskers, and long sharp claws. The other was a fairly short girl with white hair, green eyes, and a black-and-silver suit with a D emblem on the torso.

He gasped as he quickly realized who it was.

"Wulf! Danielle!"

"Friend!" Wulf yelled in joy as he pounced on top of Danny and started licking him playfully.

Danny cringed at having ghost saliva on him, but forced himself to smile as he said, "It's nice to see you again too, Wulf."

Danielle Fenton, a.k.a. Dani Phantom, a.k.a. Danny's imperfect female clone created by Vlad a while ago, smiled as she said, "Told you you'd see me again."

As the skeletons marched towards them again, Danny quickly said, "Well, you guys have good timing."

Dani then fired a ghost ray at one small round of them and asked, "Well, what do you say? Should we just jump straight to it?"

"That would be nice," Danny responded as he fired a ghost ray of his own, knocking a few more skeletons backward before adding, "But what about your powers? Aren't they still unstable?"

"Not as much as they used to be."

Wulf then spoke in a slow manner, "Friend…Danielle practice in zone."

Danny commented with a smile, "Hey, your English is better."

Danielle explained, "I've been teaching him. I got him out of Walker's prison, and we've been hanging out for a while."

Still blasting a few skeletons with one of her parents' weapons, Jazz cried, "Can we please cut this reunion while a bunch of skeletons are attacking!"

The three of them nodded in agreement as they shot into the air, Danny and Dani firing ghost rays at the skeletons, while Wulf charged straight into them, waving his sharp claws fiercely.

Danny was tackled by a bunch more skeletons and knocked down. They then sliced their small swords, one piercing his left leg, causing blood to run down it. He then quickly phased through the ground.

Once reappearing, Danny watched as Dani was firing numerous ghost rays at a bunch more skeletons. But they were quickly moving towards her as there were a lot of them. Seeing that she was in trouble, Danny ducked an attack by one skeleton, and then grabbed hold of its arm. He then swung it around a couple times, and then threw it right at the others. They crashed into each other as Danielle jumped up, avoiding being hit herself.

"Thanks," Dani said gratefully as she kicked another skeleton from above.

"Who said you could start the party without us?" another feminine voice rang out. Danny turned around and smiled as he saw Tucker and Sam running towards the fray, each sporting utility weapons of their own.

Seeing Danielle and Wulf, Tucker commented, "Sweet. Old friends."

Sam then stated, "We'll save the reunion for later, Tucker. We've got business to take care of."

She then fired one of the Fenton Foamers at a round of skeletons, but they quickly jumped the blast. While in the air, however, Wulf quickly slashed them with his claws.

As they continued their attacks, Danny noticed something. The amount of skeletons was getting smaller and smaller. Danny was confused at this because he was sure they hadn't gotten rid of so many skeletons already. Flying up off the ground, his eyes went wide as he saw a number of skeletons were running off in different directions.

"Guys!" Danny called down to the ground, "They're splitting up!"

Watching as the rest of them left, Danielle suggested, "Maybe we should do the same."

"Right," Danny agreed, "Jazz, Sam, and Tucker, you guys go…" he pointed in one direction deeper into the park, "That way. Wulf and Danielle, you guys go…" he then pointed back the way he had come from, "That way."

Jazz asked him earnestly, "What about you?"

Danny turned towards downtown, another direction the skeletons were heading off in, and said, "I'll go this way."

Everyone nodded as they headed off in the directions Danny told them to go, with Danny, Dani, and Wulf flying, and Jazz, Sam, and Tucker running. After a few seconds, Sam then turned around and watched as Danny flew off by himself.

Her eyes looked soulful as she watched him go, and then she closed them as she ran away again.

Also watching Danny was a figure clad in a black-and-red suit and sporting ghost hunting weapons, hiding carefully in an alley.

Valerie watched and smiled, "Finally, he's alone. But I'm going to really catch him off guard this time. He was too alert yesterday. I've got to corner him when he's relaxed, and bam! He's history."

She then carefully and slowly flew low near the ground as she followed him.

* * *

Danny sent a large ball of energy at the skeletons in fierce determination. They jumped in different directions and the ball hit the ground right in the large gap between them. 

The group that he had encountered wasn't a very large one, and he was thankful for that, since he was the only one going solo in this current situation.

Danny knew what was coming. He knew that his future self and the ghost king were coming, and likely soon. He had felt nervous throughout most of the night, wondering when his future self would show his face again.

But for now, he was only focusing on the matter at hand, and that was fighting off as many skeletons as he could.

Danny ducked as one skeleton swung its sword at him. He then grabbed the skeleton's arms and broke them off before throwing them at it, hitting it in the head.

Two more attacked him from behind, but Danny managed to sense them coming and spun around like lightning, slugging both of them in the ribs and knocking them backward.

Several of them swung the ball-and-chains on their ankles at Danny's knees, but Danny quickly jumped the assault. But one skeleton jumped up just after he did and delivered a big kick to Danny's chest. Danny felt the wind get knocked out of him as he stumbled backward.

More moved in on him, but Danny quickly regained his composure as he flew up above them. Several skeletons jumped up at him at the same time in an attempt to slash him with their swords.

But at the last moment, Danny quickly dropped in mid-air, causing the skeletons to crash into each other, leaving Danny unscathed.

He smiled at this, "Sometimes, numbers can be a disadvantage."

As more walked towards him, Danny had an idea.

Not wanting to use his ghostly wail just yet, Danny then tried something different. He flew up high into the air, and waited as they all gathered in one place. When they did that, he charged back down to the ground, charging up a ghost ray in the process.

When he was just inches away from the skeletons, Danny released the ghost ray, and at the same time, spread his arms out. The ghost ray suddenly became a series of ectoplasmic waves, spreading out far and knocking several skeletons down.

Danny smiled as he crouched, "Thought that would work." Then he paused and admitted, "Okay, no I didn't."

While more skeletons attacked, Valerie was watching in an alley as Danny kept up his relentless counter attacks on Pariah's minions.

_At this rate,_ she thought to herself, _He should be done with those creeps soon. And when he's alone…he's mine._

At this point, Danny dived down to the ground as one out of the now diminishing group of skeletons tried to slash him. A few more tried to do the same while he was on the ground, but the ghost boy quickly rolled over and the swords struck the ground instead.

He then flew high upward and fired a ghost ray at them. But this time, several of them put up their shields and the blast was knocked away. A few of them then jumped up to Danny and one was able to head-butt him right in the stomach.

Danny was knocked down to the ground but quickly recovered as he sent out a ball of energy. It struck the skeletons head-on and knocked them for a loop.

Thankful at the fact that this was a very small group of Pariah's ghostly skeletons, Danny grabbed hold of one of the skeletons by its ankles and threw it headlong into the remaining ones. It hit and they all barreled into each other, falling down.

He smiled and commented, "I'm thinking the ghost king should try digging up some more graves."

Danny then flew into an alley between buildings, and calmly transformed back into Danny Fenton.

He then heard a familiar voice gasp, "Danny?"

Instantly alert, Danny spun around to where he heard the voice. He saw who had just gasped and gasped himself.

Valerie Gray stood there, with a look of pure shock imprinted on her face at what she had just seen happen right before her very eyes. Her suspicions had culminated in this stunning fact: Her good friend was her worst enemy.

Danny could only utter softly, "No…"

_BUM BUM BUM! Yes, I thought about this for a long time, and this is what I decided on. Valerie has discovered Danny's secret! Her initial reaction: shock. What will her next reaction be?_

_And yes, I decided to put Wulf and Danielle in this fic. For those of you who don't like Danny's clone, don't worry. She'll only appear in a couple of scenes after this. I just thought for a scenario as monumental as this, there should be more help for Danny._

_And now, I'm going to give you all ANOTHER sneak peek for Chapter 16, coming later. Check it out!_

* * *

_**Sneak Peek: (Chapter 16)**_

"_Danny," Sam said with a worried look in her eyes, "You don't know what you're getting yourself into. You could die."_

_Danny took a deep breath as he looked among his best friends and his sister. He then responded, "Don't think I don't know that, Sam. But I have to try. Everyone else could die otherwise."_

_Jazz stated, "You don't have to do this. We all can take him down. It doesn't have to just be you."_

_Danny sighed and replied, "Yes, it does. I'm our only chance. Protecting this town is my responsibility, not yours. I live with that fact every time someone like Skulker shows up to cause trouble. You guys don't need to risk your lives."_

_Tucker then said, "But Danny…what if you can't pull it off? What if…you know?"_

_Danny closed his eyes for a few seconds before opening them again and responding in a voice of determination._

"_If I go in the act of helping everyone, then that's the way I want to go."_

* * *

_Chapter 13 is on the way!_


	13. Bewilderment and Battle

_Hi, everyone! Well, this time, I was quite pleased at how many reviews I got, but the site was acting a bit wonky and I was loaded with homework for most of the week. They had to wait until the end of the week to ease up a bit._

_Has anyone seen the commercial for the new Danny Phantom special "Phantom Phreeze"? It airs October 9 at 8:00 PM and it looks really cool! Can't wait to see it!_

_But for now, this is the newest Danny Phantom fun! Chapter 13 is here! Oh, and sorry, folks. No sneak peek this time._

**Phantom Prophecy**

**Chapter Thirteen: Bewilderment and Battle**

Valerie Gray held one of her rifles in her right hand, but she was slowly lowering it due to the sight in front of her.

She no longer looked at Danny with the venomous hatred that she normally gave to his ghost half; it was now a look of shock and disbelief. She had followed the ghost boy with the tracker in hopes of cornering him with his guard down, and finishing him right then and there.

Instead, she was met with a scenario she never expected. She suspected that Danny Fenton had something to hide, but she never would've guessed that this was it.

As for Danny, he really didn't know what to expect. That was how he had felt whenever he had gone through the scenarios in his head that eventually resulted in Valerie discovering who he was. They varied between Valerie blasting him several times, running away from him screaming or sobbing, and collapsing into his arms in shame and sorrow.

Well, now was where he was going to have to figure out which of those scenarios would happen in the real world.

Danny gulped as he spoke, "Valerie…I…"

Valerie quickly interrupted, "No. No, no, no, no, no, _no!_ Danny, it's you? You're the ghost boy? You're who I've been trying to destroy all this months? No, no. This can't be real. This isn't happening!"

Danny walked slowly towards her, saying, "Please, just listen…"

"No!" Valerie snapped, turning away from Danny, "Get away from me! Leave me alone!"

"But I just want to…"

"I don't care! Get away!" She then suddenly pulled out one of her discs and fired it at the ground. It hit the ground in front of Danny and a huge bang went off, knocking him backwards.

Danny sat up and watched as Valerie flew out of the alley on her jet board as fast as possible.

"Valerie, wait!" Danny called after her as he quickly got up and tried to follow her, but by the time he had gotten out of the alley, she was long gone.

"She's scared," Danny said to himself, "Scared and confused over what's just happened."

He then took a deep breath and stated, "I have to find her. I have to talk to her about this."

At that moment, however, Danny's phone rang. He quickly answered it, "Hello?"

Tucker's voice answered, "Dude, it's me."

"Tucker? Where are you?"

"Sam, Jazz, and I are near Casper High right now. We were doing pretty well for a while. I was nailing _every_ shot; I was on fire! Seriously, I…"

The techno-geek's rambling was quickly cut off as a feminine voice rang out, "Tucker, give me that thing!"

Sam's voice came through the phone instead, speaking to Danny, "The point is, we were doing well, but then more of the ghost king's army showed up, and now we're losing."

Tucker came back onto the phone and asked him, "Can you get over here ASAP?"

Danny hesitated, and then responded, "Can do." Valerie would have to wait until later.

He then quickly transformed into Danny Phantom and flew up into the air towards Casper High, unaware of a figure in red and black watching him from behind a billboard, a small tear forming in his or her eye.

* * *

Danny grunted loudly as he fired a ghost ray at the first skeletons coming into view. They quickly jumped up and the shot missed. But Jazz quickly blasted them while they were in the air, knocking them down. 

"What happened to you?" Jazz asked kindly.

"Long story," Danny said dismissively, "I'll explain later."

Tucker fired a Fenton Bazooka and it struck one skeleton, blasting it back into the Ghost Zone, followed by Sam, who did the same. But more quickly attacked them from behind, knocking them down to the ground and knocking the weapons out of their hands.

Danny quickly began to power up a ball of energy and prepared to launch it, but Jazz quickly cried, "Danny, wait!"

"Huh?" Danny asked in confusion, "Why?"

"You may hit Tucker and Sam too."

Danny blinked as he realized his sister was right. His friends and the skeletons were too close to each other that there likely wouldn't be a risk if Danny tried to blast Pariah's army.

Utilizing his other options, Danny flew at the skeletons and wound up his fist, but he was surprised as a bunch more skeletons suddenly jumped out of the thick branches of a large tree. They all landed right on top of Danny, knocking him down hard on the concrete.

While Tucker and Sam got up, Jazz quickly pulled out a Jack-o'-Nine-Tails that she had gotten from Fenton Works and shot the tails out. They struck a few ghosts standing above Danny and knocked them away.

Danny grunted as he flew back up, "Thanks. I owe you one."

"Don't thank me just yet!" Jazz cried as he pointed up.

Danny, Tucker, and Sam gasped as they all looked up onto the top of a few buildings where Jazz was pointing to. At least fifty skeletons were crammed up on each roof, and with a great amount already on the ground, it looked like things were only going to get worse.

A couple seconds later, the skeletons then gave a great push with their bony legs, and they jumped down right towards the four teens.

"Guys!" Danny barked, "Get around me!"

Sam, Tucker, and Jazz quickly got around Danny. He then took a deep breath, concentrated intensely, and then formed a strong dome as the skeletons fell down on top of him. They hit the dome and the teens were unaffected, but more skeletons kept coming, and Danny kept struggling more and more to keep it up…

Finally, it was too much and Danny dropped the dome, allowing the skeletons free access as they wrestled him and his friends and sister to the ground, striking them with their swords.

Danny was forced to take the hits as he quickly regained his strength. When it came back, he quickly started clobbering a few skeletons with punches and kicks. But more just kept on coming, and eventually one knocked him right into a fire hydrant. He hit the back of his head on it, causing him to press his palm against it in pain.

Danny felt slightly dazed and dizzy as he managed to see more skeletons moving towards him.

Currently surrounded by skeletons completely, Sam, Tucker, and Jazz could only gasp and cry in unison, "Danny!"

Danny was too dazed to move as the skeletons stopped a foot away from him. They then swung their swords upward, and started to swing them back down towards his heart…

_**WHAM!**_

Danny's eyes went wide as he suddenly saw a pink beam of light shot at the skeletons, blowing them away. Another beam struck another group near them, blowing them away as well.

The ghost boy roughly shook his head as his vision became clearer. When he could finally see normally again, he turned to where the blast had come from and his jaw dropped slightly.

Valerie stood there on her board, armed with her ecto-grenade launcher. Danny couldn't tell whether she was sad or mad; the expression on her face seemed blank and unreadable.

Throwing caution to the winds, Danny asked her, "So…I take it you're helping me now?"

Valerie looked at him for a few seconds, and then finally responded, "We'll talk about this later."

She then shot towards a few more skeletons with her ecto-grenade launcher in hand, and blasted a few more.

Now with more room to move around, Sam, Tucker, and Jazz went back to firing. They mostly had to duck to avoid attacks from the army, and striking back with blasts from whatever weapon they had.

Danny and Valerie basically fought away from each other. They both fought the skeletons, but Valerie was putting forth a pretty good effort to keep her distance from the ghost boy for now. Danny wasn't too concerned. Hopefully, it would all get sorted out later. Provided that neither of them died first.

Valerie then brought out her glowing blade and gave a loud scream as she swung it down, slamming it into the ground. It sent up a wave of glowing pink light, sending everything in its path flying away.

Danny took a moment to appreciate the awesome sight, and then quickly got back to it as he fired his new ectoplasmic wave attack along the ground. But the skeletons quickly jumped it and continued their jump at Danny. But they were quickly knocked away by a blast from Valerie's wrist laser.

Danny gave her a small smile at this, but she did not return it.

He then flew up higher and started firing at the skeletons from above, while Valerie flew around at around the same level on her jet board, also firing at the skeletons that were on the ground. Several were hit, but others jumped up. One managed to ram into Valerie on her board, knocking her off.

Valerie fell down towards the ground, right towards a bunch of skeletons with their swords pointed straight up, but Danny quickly flew down to her, caught her, and flew her out of the way just in time.

As he quickly guided Valerie back to her get board, he distinctively heard her mutter, "Thanks," even though she showed no signs of having said it when he looked at her. He felt better, just the same.

After setting the huntress back down, he flew back into the fray and fired a ball of energy at the skeletons. It struck a few, but they were unluckily knocked into Jazz and Sam, knocking them both down.

Tucker and Danny quickly ran over and checked on them.

"Are you two okay?" Tucker asked them.

"We're fine, Tucker," Sam said quickly as she stood up. But then she immediately clutched her knee and said, "Or not."

While the uninjured Jazz quickly ran over to the fallen Sam, Danny scowled at seeing Sam hurt. He then said, "Got to end this before anyone else gets hurt."

But at that moment, the ground began shaking all around them.

Tucker then said, "I think it's too late for that."

The five of them then looked up above them and watched as a swirling formation had taken place in the sky. The color was changing to a bright green, the same color as Danny's ghostly eyes.

A huge portal was opening up in the sky above them. The skeletons had suddenly stopped as blue lightning flashed through the sky. Everyone else who was on the streets, or anywhere else for that matter, was watching the sky with looks of amazement on their faces.

Danny's jaw dropped as he saw two large figures slowly move through the portal. Once they had crossed through, the vortex disappeared, but the sky maintained its swirling green color.

Danny wasn't expecting this to go like last time, since Pariah doesn't have the Fright Knight now to stick his sword into the ground, and he knew Dan had the ability to go to and from the Ghost Zone with a wave of his hand.

And those two were exactly the ones that floated in the sky above them.

Pariah Dark loomed largely over Dan as he boomed, "Here is where my reign of this human world begins anew!"

_Okay, I actually think that was a relatively bad chapter in comparison to most others, but by now, it's after 11:30 at night and I can't really think too straight. I'm not even sure why I'm not just waiting until tomorrow morning._

_So here's the scenario: Valerie seems a little confused by the whole thing between her and Danny. Meanwhile, Pariah and Dan have now both arrived in Amity Park, and that can only mean trouble! "What kind of trouble?" is the question. Well, the answer shall come in Chapter 14, which I promise will be better!_


	14. Changing the Rules

_Greetings! How is everyone? Myself, school…ugh. So hard, and it's eating up my spare time. From now on, I'll try to update whenever I can, but bear with me. I never have a lot of time on my hands except for the weekends._

_Now then, we have Chapter 14! I don't own Danny Phantom. (Sighs) How I wish I did._

**Phantom Prophecy**

**Chapter Fourteen: Changing the Rules**

Danny didn't know what to do at this point. He hadn't had a whole lot of time to prepare for the time when Dan and Pariah would arrive. Everyone watching the scene looked horrified, and he didn't know what he could do to set things straight.

For now, all he could do was watch as the mighty ghost king spoke.

"I will not let a child defeat me this time. I shall rule this place as I had ruled the Ghost Zone for thousands of years!"

Everyone quickly started murmuring in fear at the unfolding sight.

Danny was somewhat surprised to see that Dan was not saying anything. He was just floating next to Pariah Dark, with a smug grin on his face. He had a certain look in his eyes, as though his mind was caught up in something.

One thing was for sure. Danny knew that whatever his former future self was thinking of, it couldn't be good.

With everyone else still jabbering, Pariah thundered, "SILENCE!"

The people instantly became silent as Pariah then stated, "Henceforth, the damage to your pathetic town shall be minimal under only one condition: Bring forth my Crown of Fire!"

No one said a word. It was clear to nearly everyone in town that they didn't even know what the Crown of Fire was.

But Danny did. Vlad Plasmius had the Crown. He had seen Vlad with the crown after he had knocked it off the ghost king's head last time shortly before locking him in the Sarcophagus.

_But why would he come here if Vlad has it?_ Danny wondered.

"So!" Pariah boomed, "Nobody will come forward! Very well, then. You all had your chance."

Danny suddenly began to think of something else. He took another look at Dark Danny, and thought back to when the future Vlad had told him how after he had come alive, his castle had been destroyed.

_If he came here,_ Danny thought, _then he must have told the ghost king to do so in order to find the crown. But why? No one here has it. Wait…he might have done something before leaving Plasmius' castle. So that means…_

And once Danny was able to put two and two together, his eyes went wide as he said, "Uh-oh."

Sam turned to him and said, "What? What is it?"

Danny explained, "That jerk didn't come here to lead the king to the crown. He came here to destroy me."

Jazz then asked him, "Then where is the crown?"

Pariah Dark turned to Dan and said, "You, I command you to call out my troops. They are to show no mercy!"

Dan's smile was now gone as he turned to the ghost king. His smile then came back as he said, "Yeah, about that…"

On the ground, Danny and friends gasped as they saw something flying out of the sky. As it got closer and closer to them, they realized that it was a duplicate of Dan!

The clone shot at Pariah with lightning speed, and before the ghost king could even blink, it grabbed hold of the Ring of Rage on Pariah's right hand, and pulled it off!

As Dan formed back into one, he sneered coldly, "They're now _my_ troops."

Pariah looked furious as Dan placed the ring on his right hand. He then shouted, "You have made a very foolish choice, minion! And very useless as well, for you don't know where the Crown of Fire is."

But Phantom continued to smile as he made his left arm intangible. He then phased it inside his chest, moving his hand around inside for a few seconds before pulling an object out.

The object was a spiky red and yellow object the size of a football. It was the Crown of Fire.

"You!" Pariah shouted, "You had the Crown of Fire! I demand to know where you obtained it this instant!"

Dan held the crown in his hands as he responded blandly, "Well, I would tell you, but I'm afraid it's none of your business, _your majesty._"

And before Pariah or anyone else could stop him, he placed the crown on top of his head. He then began to glow with a bright green light. Lightning flashed across the skies as Dan starting groaning in pain.

Danny's eyes were wide with shock as what he had feared would happen was happening before his very eyes.

After a few moments, the groaning stopped, and Dark Danny floated there with a malicious smile on his face, looking, if that was even possible, more dangerous and more deadly than Danny had ever seen before.

But Danny did not seem to be of Dan's concern for the moment as he turned back to Pariah, saying, "Rule number one, Pariah: _Nobody_ tells _me_ what to do."

Pariah now looked positively enraged at having his power taken away like this. He then bellowed, "Whether you possess my crown and my ring or not, you are still nothing compared to me!"

Dan looked perfectly calm as he responded, "Then let's see who's right."

Without hesitation, Pariah charged at the former Danny Phantom through the air, firing a huge red blast with both hands.

Without even flinching, however, Dan thrusted his arms out, and a tall purple shield appeared in the way of the blast. The blast hit the shield and bounced away immediately.

Pariah swung his arms around in an attempt to grab Dan, but he quickly duplicated into four, and they split apart, attacking the larger ghost on different points of his body. One fired purple beams from its eyes at Pariah's head, another sent multiple purple balls of energy at his torso, the third formed long red whips with both hands and smacked him repeatedly in the back, and the last fired purple ghost rays at his legs.

In pain but not to be outdone, the uncrowned king sent out a blast of aural energy, knocking the four Dan replicas away.

He then formed a long band of red ectoplasmic energy and swung it around in an attempt to mow all four of them out of the air, but they all moved fast and dodged it.

"Come on," the duplicates said in perfect unison, "Even without your toys, I expected a little bit of a challenge."

Pariah growled furiously at being mocked as he shouted, "Minions! Attack the rebel!"

On the ground, the ghostly skeleton simply stood stationary and did not respond.

"Minions!" Pariah yelled again, "Your lord orders you! Attack the rebel!"

Still the skeletons did not move, while Dan cackled malevolently, "You don't get it, do you? You're not the big cheese anymore. I am. I have your little playthings, so I tell them what they can and can't do.

"For instance…get him."

In an instant, the skeletons started jumping up towards Pariah and began swinging their swords at him. Several hit their mark, but Pariah was able to strike the remaining ones with his fists and feet, knocking them down.

But while this happened, all four Dan duplicates fired powerful red ghost rays at him at once. They all hit him right in the chest and he was winded.

Dan then grinned as he formed back into one, saying, "If it took ten years for me to bring the world to its knees before, then it should only take about ten minutes for me to do it this time."

"Wow," Tucker said as he watched, "I forgot how bad that guy was."

Pariah growled as he shot up higher into the air. Then he threw out his arms and sent out red waves of ectoplasmic energy that shot in all directions. Some of it hit the ground and destroyed a few buildings, while the rest of it was able to hit Dan, knocking him to the ground at the base of a tree.

Dan rubbed his cheek and said coldly, "Oooh. I think I may have felt that one."

Pariah then charged towards Dan and fired another large red blast at him. Dark Danny quickly rolled over and the blast missed, instead hitting a tree and obliterating it in one shot.

Dan then swung his fists up and slammed them into the ground. The entire ground began to rumble and shake violently as though it were an earthquake. The people on the ground were shaken as they struggled to stay up. Many eventually fell down to the ground.

As for Pariah, he was on the ground right now, and was being shaken quite a bit as well.

Just then, huge cracks appeared in the ground, running across in separate directions. Several of them would eventually meet, causing huge holes in the ground and collapsing several objects like mailboxes and trees.

Pariah had been forced to fall down on his back due to the shaking.

When it finally stopped, Tucker then spoke, "So that's what an earthquake feels like."

Sam glared at him and then smacked him in the back of the head.

Dan, who hadn't been affected by the shaking since he had flown up into the air after generating it, then said, "You should know the rules, Pariah. If I may quote the Wisconsin Dairy King, 'Kings don't fight. They send other people to fight for 'em.' Royalty 101 and all that jazz. But you have no one to fight for you."

Pariah boomed as he shot up, "You shall be the one that shall reside in the Sarcophagus of Forever Sleep from now on, fool!"

He then fired a pair of powerful red beams from his eyes straight at Dan, but Dan easily dodged the attack and flew towards him.

Pariah quickly projected a huge round shield and protected himself with it, leaving Dan to simply hit it.

But Phantom looked unfazed as he started to glow with a dangerous red light while he grabbed the shield with his hands. After a few seconds, the shield began to glow red as well. Pariah now appeared to be straining to keep his shield up while Dan smiled sinisterly.

After a few more seconds, Pariah let out a loud scream as his shield broke apart, leaving himself to fall to his knees.

Dan then said simply to him, "Just be glad that it's not you I want."

He then turned to fly away, but Pariah quickly reached out and grabbed hold of him, throwing him down to the ground hard.

He then shouted, "Tough! You cross me, and you shall pay the worst consequences imaginable!"

Dark Danny just rolled his eyes and said, "Oh, enough of this garbage."

He then opened his mouth and let loose his ghostly wail. It was normally powerful enough, but with the added energy from the Crown of Fire and the Ring of Rage, it showed devastating strength as Pariah was blown away and the waves of energy kept spreading out all over the city.

Buildings were crumbling under the power, debris was getting thrown everywhere, and the people on the street, which included Danny, Sam, Tucker, Jazz, and Valerie, were sent flying backwards.

Pariah was hurled along the ground before crashing headlong into a brick building. He moaned a bit and did not get up.

Dan stopped the wail, looked around at the wreck, and smiled. He then flew up and spoke loud enough for all to hear.

"Well, looks like this town will be under new management."

Danny sat up and watched with his jaw dropped. Pariah had been defeated, and now Dan had all the power he had. He looked around and saw Sam, Tucker, and Jazz with frantic looks on their faces. Valerie was nowhere in sight.

Dan went on, "I am also here for one main purpose. And if I have to destroy everyone in this pitiful town to get it…" His voice shrunk to an icy whisper as he finished, "You'd better start running."

Someone on the ground yelled up to him, "Will you leave as soon as you get what you want?"

Dark Danny looked away and scratched his chin, saying, "Well, a most noble person would do just that. However…I am not a person, nor am I noble."

The people gasped as they knew what he meant. Either way, he would surely destroy them all.

"That being said," Dan said with a smirk, "I have only one question."

He powered a purple ghost ray in his hand as he spoke with venom in his voice.

"Who's first?"

_And that's where it ends! Pariah has been overthrown, and now the evil older Danny is ready to take over! And I'm sure you all know what he's mainly after. Anyway, how can Danny and co. handle the danger ahead?_

_I have another sneak peek for you all, from Chapter 15! Check it out!

* * *

_

_**Sneak Peek: (Chapter 15)**_

_Danny was thrown backward by the skeletons and he banged his head into a light post. His vision was impaired for a few moments as he was now seeing double._

_He fired a ghost ray, but it missed badly and his arm was slashed by one of the skeletons' swords. He yelled out in pain._

_They moved to attack again, but another ghost ray struck them from above. Danny looked up and spotted Danielle flying down towards him. Several more skeletons went for Danny's knees with their swords, but Dani quickly grabbed him by the hands and got him out of there._

"_Thanks for the lift," Danny praised, "Since when did you learn to duplicate?"_

_Dani sighed and responded, "I didn't. You hit your head really hard."_

_Danny looked away as more skeletons jumped toward them. Wulf quickly jumped off a tree branch and struck them with his claws. But some jumped on top of Wulf and tackled him to the ground._

_Tucker and Jazz were blasting more skeletons with their weapons, but there were too many for just the two of them to handle. Sam offered to help, but with her bad knee, they told her that would be inadvisable._

_Danny and Dani were caught off-guard as one skeleton struck Dani in the hand with its sword. Danielle cried out at being hit and accidentally let go of Danny. He dropped to the ground._

_While his female clone engaged in combat in the air, Danny braced for impact as five skeletons larger than him moved in._

_But just then, a large tree glowing a light blue whizzed by, crushing the skeletons to pieces._

_Danny turned to where the tree had come from and his eyes went wide.

* * *

_

_Chapter 15 is on the way!_


	15. The Good, the Bad, and the Surprising

_Hey, guys! How is everything? Me, I'm pretty much so-so lately. Happy for the review total for the most part, but I think it could be better. Well…I guess there's nothing left to say._

_Enjoy! Chapter 15 has arrived!_

**Phantom Prophecy**

**Chapter Fifteen: The Good, The Bad, and the Surprising**

Dan fired the ghost ray from his hand and it struck a tall building, creating a large hole in it.

While everyone started to run for it, Dark Danny then shouted to the skeletons, "Go now!" They instantly obeyed as they panned out across the city, quickly flooding the streets.

Danny grunted as he got up, helping Jazz, Sam, and Tucker to their feet. Sam had to lean on Jazz while standing on one foot to keep herself up.

"Well," Sam said simply, "Stupid question: What do we do?"

Danny looked around at the sight. The entire section where Dan had unleashed his ghostly wail now resembled one of the moon's craters, with all sorts of junk and debris lying everywhere else.

He then sighed and said, "Fight back."

Tucker looked at him like he was crazy and retorted, "Dude, are you nuts? With him like that? There's no ecto-suit now, Danny. How in the world are we going to fight back?"

Danny's face fell for a second before he responded, "I don't know. But we have to try."

"Friend!"

The four of them looked up and spotted Wulf and Danielle flying towards them. They both had a few bruises on them but nothing major.

Danny yelled, "Wulf! Danielle!"

Jazz asked them as they stopped in mid-air, "Are you two alright?"

"Been better," Dani said simply.

Wulf replied, "Wulf gets butt punched."

Danny, Sam, Jazz, and Tucker all stared at him, looking puzzled.

Tucker then spoke, "I think you mean, 'butt kicked'."

"Yeah," Dani said with a pitying frown, "He gets 'punched' and 'kicked' mixed up a lot."

Danny looked around and wondered out loud, "Hey, where's Valerie?"

Sam answered, "I don't know, but I don't think this is the right time to guess."

Seeing about a hundred skeletons stomping towards them, Danny agreed, "You're right. Come on!"

With that, he, Dani, and Wulf shot off in different directions, Danny sending a ball of energy at one round of them, Dani firing a ghost ray at another round, and Wulf swiping his claws at a third.

Though all three attacks hit home, many more kept coming. Danny knew that the skeletons would basically be the easy part. As soon as his future self found him…he shuddered at the thought and tried to push it away. But he did have one idea. He just didn't know how he was going to execute it.

Danny ducked as one skeleton tried to slash him, but was quickly head-butted from behind and stumbled forward. He was then given a sickening punch to the face by another skeleton and he fell down.

They were ready to attack again with the ghost boy on the ground, but Wulf quickly jumped out of the air and stomped on them. He then slashed them with his claws.

Wulf then picked up Danny and put him onto his back. Danny held on tight as Wulf jumped again, landing hard on the ground and causing a few skeletons to lose their balance. Danny then jumped off Wulf's back and gave them strong kicks, knocking them down.

But from behind, a much larger one grabbed Danny and trapped him in a bear hug. Danny struggled but couldn't get free.

After a few seconds, it threw Danny up into the air, where a couple smaller skeletons jumped up and slashed Danny in different parts of his body.

Danny cringed as he started to fall back down. But another small group of skeletons then jumped up and grabbed him by his arms as they landed on the ground. The half-ghost was left helpless as they swung him around before finally letting go.

Danny was thrown backward by the skeletons and he banged his head into a light post. His vision was impaired for a few moments as he was now seeing double.

He fired a ghost ray, but it missed badly and his arm was slashed by one of the skeletons' swords. He yelled out in pain.

They moved to attack again, but another ghost ray struck them from above. Danny looked up and spotted Danielle flying down towards him. Several more skeletons went for Danny's knees with their swords, but Dani quickly grabbed him by the hands and got him out of there.

"Thanks for the lift," Danny praised, "Since when did you learn to duplicate?"

Dani sighed and responded, "I didn't. You hit your head really hard."

Danny looked away as more skeletons jumped toward them. Wulf quickly jumped off a tree branch and struck them with his claws. But some jumped on top of Wulf and tackled him to the ground.

Tucker and Jazz were blasting more skeletons with their weapons, but there were too many for just the two of them to handle. Sam offered to help, but with her bad knee, they told her that would be inadvisable.

Danny and Dani were caught off-guard as one skeleton struck Dani in the hand with its sword. Danielle cried out at being hit and accidentally let go of Danny. He dropped to the ground.

While his female clone engaged in combat in the air, Danny braced for impact as five skeletons larger than him moved in.

But just then, a large tree glowing a light blue whizzed by, crushing the skeletons to pieces.

Danny turned to where the tree had come from and his eyes went wide.

Floating about ten feet off the ground was the personage of a middle-age Japanese woman, sporting a dark purple cloak and glowing an eerie shade of blue.

Now with his vision regained fully, he called out in shock, "Suki!"

She smiled and bowed before him, "Greetings, young Daniel."

Jazz, Wulf, and Danielle simply looked puzzled, while the looks on Sam and Tucker's faces resembled the one on Danny's, moreso for Sam.

"I can't believe it," the Goth girl spoke in shock, "You're a ghost?"

Suki nodded with another bow, "That is correct, Miss Manson. I am one of the ancient Oracle Ghosts."

Jazz spoke, "Oracle Ghost? As in, you can see into the future?"

"Quite. Not of my own free will, though. We have the ability to pass off as humans, and I thought the disguise of a human fortune teller would be an excellent idea." She then turned to Danny and asked slyly, "Did you really believe a normal psychic would be able to see what I saw the other day?"

Danny looked away and was slightly embarrassed at this statement. Now that he heard it out loud, it probably wouldn't have been likely that a normal person could see into his dreams like that.

And it also probably wouldn't have been likely for a normal person to charge forty bucks for that stuff either!

"So are you here to help?" Danny asked earnestly.

Suki's hands glowed blue as she responded, "Just try to stop me."

She then waved her arms, and a nearby swimming pool was suddenly encased in a magical blue light. It shook for a few seconds, and was then forced off the ground, flying overtop the skeletons before dropping onto the ground. Several skeletons were crushed.

Impressed, Danny spoke, "Sweet."

Another skeleton ran at Danny from behind.

Suki quickly called out, "One will swing from behind!"

Danny hurriedly ducked at hearing this and saw a sword pass over him.

"From the left!" Suki yelled.

Danny jumped out of the way, dodging another sword attempting to strike him from his left side. He then fired multiple ghost rays, blasting several skeletons away.

Dani smiled as she lobbed a ball of energy up high into the air. A small group of skeletons got under it, attempting to destroy it with their swords.

But from behind her, Jazz and Tucker ran up, blasting the skeletons with their bazookas. They were knocked down, and as an added bonus, the energy ball landed on top of them, exploding in their faces.

Danny grinned at Dani as he commented on the lob-and-drill tactic, "Cool! Looks like you're a whiz at dodgeball too!"

* * *

Sam hopped on one foot, with a utility weapon still in her hand, as she saw Jack and Maddie up ahead of them. To her surprise, Jack was blasting the ghosts with a bazooka. Maddie looked to be in pain.

"Mr. Fenton!" she cried.

Jack looked quite surprised as he exclaimed, "Sam? What in the world are you doing here? You should be inside, where it's safe!"

"With no ghost shield?" Sam retorted coyly.

Jack looked up at Fenton Works and saw that Phantom's ghostly wail had eliminated the Fenton Ghost Shield.

He grinned sheepishly as he then asked, "Sam, are you hurt?"

Sam grimaced and responded, "A little. My knee hurts a bit." Noticing Maddie again, she then turned to her and asked, "Mrs. Fenton, are you alright?"

Maddie answered as she turned to the Goth girl, "Yes. I'm fine."

Sam then asked her, "Where's the Fenton Patch?"

Maddie winced as she said, "It's back inside. I took it off."

"Why?"

* * *

The amount of skeletons was going down, but Danny and co. were growing tired. Danny was feeling the worst of it, already having to go through a lot during the last few days.

He wished Valerie was still here. He guessed that the teen huntress was in another part of the city, likely battling a bunch of other skeletons.

Suki waved her arms again and a glowing blue spear formed in mid-air in front of Danny. He grabbed the spear and without hesitation, he threw it. It struck one skeleton and it disappeared instantly.

Even with all that had happened lately, Suki being a ghost wasn't something that he had expected. But at the same time, he welcomed the surprise and was now finding a way to make it work to his advantage.

But just then, a cold and mocking voice rang out that made Danny's blood run cold.

"Aw, a little party and I wasn't invited."

Danny turned around, along with his allies, and saw the sinister vision of Dark Danny, a.k.a. Dan Phantom, floating in mid-air, a malicious smile on his face.

Dan turned to Danny and asked him simply, "Did you really think I wouldn't find you at some point? You're the one I've wanted all this time, after all."

Danny's eyes narrowed as he responded, "I knew you'd find me. And what you said about you finding me? That's no secret."

Phantom cackled for a few seconds before saying, "Oh, how cute. Teen sass."

He was then caught off-guard as a green blast suddenly struck him in the chest, knocking him a few feet backward.

Jazz's weapon was smoking as she glared at Dan with a furious look on her face.

Dan's glare wanted to melt Jazz right on the spot as he said coldly, "You're going to wish you hadn't done that, sis."

Danny stepped in and barked, "And you're going to wish you hadn't broken out of that thermos!"

Without hesitation, he fired a ghost ray at full power at his opponent. But Phantom didn't even flinch as he stuck out his arm and absorbed the blow in his hand, which then began to glow. He then brought both arms together and his other hand began to glow green. He then threw the blast back at Danny, hitting him hard and knocking him down.

Danny groaned as he got up again.

"Cool, huh?" Dan asked smugly, "That power absorbs any blast and sends it back at twice the force. You should think about getting a Ring of Rage and Crown of Fire too. Oh, wait. You can't."

Danny narrowed his eyes furiously at being taunted like this.

Phantom then sent a pair of purple beams from his eyes at Danny. He was able to duck it, and then watched Wulf and Dani charge at Dan through the air. But he calmly produced his strong dome, blocking them out.

Suki used her powers to lift up a stop sign and it flew at Dan. By this time, his dome was down and the stop sign began to tie itself around him, binding him with its metal material.

But a few seconds later, there was a huge bang, and the stop sign broke apart, leaving Dark Danny floating there, completely unfazed.

Danny grunted as he flew straight at Dan. He wound his fist and tried to punch him, but quick as a wink, Dan connected with a lightning-fast and devastating kick straight to his stomach. He felt the wind get knocked out of him as he halted his flight.

Dan then grabbed Danny by his suit and brought him close to himself.

Seeing shades of their last battle last time through his eyes, Danny asked him, "Am I the only reason why you brought the king here and took that ring? Just so you could have an unfair advantage?"

Dan scoffed, "Ha! I had the advantage all along, Danny. I just needed to sweeten the deal a little bit."

_Got to get away from here somehow,_ Danny thought to himself.

Dan then spoke coldly, "You know you don't have a chance anymore. There's no ecto-skeleton to back you up this time. Give up."

Danny grunted, "You of all people should know how stubborn I am."

From behind Dan, Wulf and Danielle flew at him for a surprise attack. But Dan quickly spun around and fired a purple ghost ray with his free hand. It struck Wulf, but missed Danielle, who gave him a strong kick to the face. At the same time, Tucker and Jazz fired simultaneous blasts that struck gold.

That was enough. Danny head-butted Phantom in the back of his neck and he let go. He then quickly shot back down to the ground for a minute to regroup.

"Danny!"

Danny turned and saw Sam hopping over to him with a determined look on her face.

"Sam!" Danny cried, "What is it?"

The Goth girl responded, "It's your parents' Fenton Patch. Your mom told me it's in your house, but…"

"Thanks!" Danny interrupted, and he quickly flew towards Fenton Works.

As he flew off, Sam shouted after him, "Danny, wait! There's something you should know!"

But the ghost boy never heard her. He continued to fly towards his home, for the item that he considered to be his only chance in defeating Dark Danny and setting everything right.

_Whoo! What a chapter! Bet a lot of you weren't expecting me to have Suki back here as a ghost. I wanted a way to tie everything together at some point._

_Anyway, Danny has his future self distracted with Wulf and Danielle for now, but how long can he be kept busy? And it now looks like the Fenton Patch might be Danny's only hope, but what did Sam want to tell him? And what happened to Valerie? You'll all find out the answers in Chapter 16!_

_On another note, there was a third commercial for the next DP special, "Phantom Phreeze"! This one looks REALLY awesome; I can't wait for October 9th! Anyway, catch you all later!_


	16. Revelation and Confrontation

_What's up, everyone? I had some free time, so I was able to bring you this update sooner than I expected. I was relatively satisfied with reviews this time around. And just so you all know, this story is steadily approaching the end. I'm thinking 3 or 4 more chapters including this one, but that's just for now._

_Here we go! Chapter 16 has arrived! And just remember: I don't own this show. I just make a great effort to be a fanfic writer of it. _

**Phantom Prophecy**

**Chapter Sixteen: Revelation and Confrontation**

Danny quickly phased inside Fenton Works and immediately ran for the basement. He hurried down the steps to where he was certain that the Fenton Patch would be located in.

He finally reached the basement, only to receive a nasty surprise.

In her high-tech suit, Valerie Gray stood there, holding the Fenton Patch in her hand.

"Valerie!" Danny cried.

At hearing him, Valerie quickly turned to him. She had an indifferent stare in her eyes as she responded somewhat coldly, "Danny."

Danny felt slightly nervous as he asked her, "What are you doing with that patch?"

Valerie glared at him and responded simply, "I've heard through the grapevine that this patch increases a person's natural power like that old suit you guys had. I'm going to use it to stop that freak out there before he turns Amity Park into a ghost town."

Danny pointed out, "Well, technically, there are already ghosts in this town, so you wouldn't really…"

Valerie quickly interrupted, "Don't get cute, wise guy."

The ghost boy took a deep breath, and then answered, "I'm not gonna let you go out there alone."

She turned to Danny with her hands on her hips and responded, "What, you think I can't take care of myself?"

"It-it's not that," Danny quickly answered through a stammer, "I just mean that I should go out there instead."

Valerie scoffed, "Oh. Right. Like I'm just gonna let you go out there, beat that guy, save the day, and get all the glory."

"It's not like that. I'm the one he wants." He began to step towards Valerie as he continued, "It's my responsibility to get rid of him. There's nobody he won't destroy to…"

But as Danny approached her, Valerie quickly pointed her ecto-grenade launcher and spoke softly, "Don't…move."

Danny quickly stopped in his tracks. He then took a deep breath and said, "You said we'd talk about this whole thing later. No better time like now."

Valerie stared at him with a questioning look in her eyes. Then she scowled as she stated, "I'm not so sure if I should trust you. You might just attack me by surprise and grab the patch."

Danny sighed. He knew this was going to be difficult. Then he transformed back into Danny Fenton and said, "There. You're armed, and I'm not. Now will you listen?"

This was a bluff, of course. He was capable of firing ghost rays in human form. But she didn't necessarily have to know that.

Valerie lowered her ecto-grenade launcher ever so slowly, and then said, "I'm listening."

Danny took a deep breath and began, "With all that's happened to us these last few months, I wouldn't blame you if you didn't give me that patch. But you have to understand that I didn't tell you who I was because…I was afraid."

"Afraid?" Valerie asked with her eyebrows raised. She sounded gentler now. "Afraid of what?"

"How you'd react," Danny responded, "You just hated Danny Phantom so much, and I was worried that you'd grow to hate Danny Fenton too."

Valerie was silent for a few seconds. Then she spoke in a rather hurt voice, "I was your friend, Danny. Didn't you trust me enough?"

_Was, _Danny recited Valerie's last words to himself. This word concerned Danny more than her other words. Perhaps she wouldn't be his friend anymore after this. But he had to get her to understand somehow. To win her trust back.

He then spoke, "How could I trust you that much? To let you know that the guy you had feelings for turned out to be the ghost boy you hate? Do you really think you'd be as understanding as you're saying that you'd have been?"

Valerie continued to look at Danny, listening to him talk, and her mood easing up by the second. Her face visor then disappeared, revealing her regular face underneath.

After a few more seconds, she finally asked him, "Would you have preferred telling me who you were to me destroying you, and then finding out afterward? That could've happened, Danny! That could've happened if one of those times, you hadn't gotten away! If I had been able to eliminate you! How could you have been so stupid as to take that risk!"

Danny looked down at the ground, repeating Valerie's harsh words in his head. Now that he heard it, it did sound pretty dumb of him not to tell her sooner. If he had gotten severely hurt and Valerie found out who he was afterward, they both would never have been able to forgive themselves.

Danny then took a deep breath and said sincerely, "I'm sorry, Valerie. I shouldn't have done this to you. I should've come out with it with you once we became friends. Not that we're really friends anymore."

Valerie looked down at the ground and spoke, "Danny…maybe…maybe I'm the one who should be sorry."

"What do you mean?" Danny asked her earnestly.

"Now that I think about it, I realize that I often did just…jump to conclusions and never really thought things through. I always assumed the worst out of Danny Phantom, and well…here we are. Maybe if I hadn't shown so much animosity towards you, you might not have been so afraid to tell me the truth."

Danny sighed and then stated, "I guess we're both at fault here."

"Yeah," the huntress agreed.

The ghost boy took another deep breath. It looked like Valerie still wasn't budging with the matter of the patch. He then said, "Well, good luck to you." He turned towards the door.

"Danny, wait."

Danny turned around at Valerie's sudden words. He watched as she tensed her muscles, and slowly walked towards him. She held out the Fenton Patch in her hand and said, "Here."

Danny looked incredulous as he responded, "Really?"

She nodded, "Yeah. This is your fight, Danny. It's been your fight from the beginning. I have no business taking part. Besides…I think you'd have a better chance of winning, anyway."

Danny was hesitant, but then slowly stuck his hand out and took the patch from her hands.

He held the patch in his hands and said, "Thanks, Valerie."

Valerie gave a small smile and wiped a few tears from her eyes, saying, "Just…be careful."

Danny nodded, "I'll be alright."

With that, Valerie let her visor reform before she quickly hurried up the stairs and out of the basement. Danny took a deep breath, and then followed her a few seconds later.

He ran into the kitchen and started to the front door when he saw three familiar figures heading towards him. It was Sam, Tucker, and Jazz, with a pack of ice strapped to Sam's knee.

"Guys!" Danny cried in surprise, "What are you doing here?"

Sam quickly responded, "Danny, we have to tell you something about that patch."

"What about it?"

Jazz answered, "Danny, the patch does work. Sam told me that Mom said so. It increased her natural abilities with the same significance as the ecto-skeleton, but there's a problem with it."

Danny looked nervous as he asked her, "It doesn't drain your energy, does it?"

His sister quickly shook her head, "No. But while you're wearing it, every time you get hit, the damage inflicted is double the usual amount."

Danny's eyes went slightly wide. He was not expecting this, and suddenly he felt even more uneasy than he recently had been.

Sam stated, "Danny, I don't think you should take it."

Danny responded, "Sam, if I take this, at least I have a chance against him."

Tucker spoke for the first time, "Yeah, but with the power he has, you're bound to go down much faster then he'd normally able to take you. You can't go very far without a good defense. It's like in sports."

Danny threw his arms out in exasperation and said, "Well, what choice do I have? We've all thrown everything we've got at him, and it's still not even close to enough."

Looking sheepish, Tucker said to him, "Oh, and all your other enemies have joined him too. He said he could help them destroy you, so they agreed."

Danny cringed before yelling, "See! We're completely outnumbered here! But if I use this patch, we can overpower them. We can win."

Jazz looked worried as she said, "But Danny, what if it's not enough? What if the Crown of Fire and the Ring of Rage provide more power than the patch? And Tucker's right; you won't be able to go very far without a good defense."

The half-ghost took a deep breath before responding, "Sometimes the best defense is a great offense. That's the only thing I'll be able to rely on. And my speed will be increased too, so hopefully I can use that to dodge his attacks.

"I don't want you guys fighting him with me. He might use you to take me down."

"No," Jazz said quickly, "We're not letting you go into this alone."

"I'm not letting you risk your lives when I'm the victim."

"Danny," Sam said with a worried look in her eyes, "You don't know what you're getting yourself into. You could die."

Danny took a deep breath as he looked among his best friends and his sister. He then responded, "Don't think I don't know that, Sam. But I have to try. Everyone else could die otherwise."

Jazz stated, "You don't have to do this. We all can take him down. It doesn't have to just be you."

Danny sighed and replied, "Yes, it does. I'm our only chance. Protecting this town is my responsibility, not yours. I live with that fact every time someone like Skulker shows up to cause trouble. You guys don't need to risk your lives."

Tucker then said, "But Danny…what if you can't pull it off? What if…you know?"

Danny closed his eyes for a few seconds before opening them again and responding in a voice of determination.

"If I go in the act of helping everyone, then that's the way I want to go."

Their faces were solemn as Danny walked by towards the door, saying, "I have to do this."

"Danny, wait," Sam said suddenly.

Danny turned around at hearing her voice. And before he could even ask what she wanted, the Goth girl suddenly embraced him in a warm and soft hug.

For only a moment, Danny allowed himself to get lost in the hug, loving the warm feeling of it. He didn't want to let go; he felt happy, and safe, and at peace…

But he knew he had a job to do. He slowly pulled away from Sam, who smiled warmly.

Danny smiled back, and then turned away from them.

His eyes were closed as he transformed into Danny Phantom, and then flew out the door and onto the street.

Once outside, Danny took a quick look around. He gasped as he saw the sight.

Telephone poles were bent out of place. Street lamps were lying down. Several cars lay wrecked on the grass, the sidewalk, and the street. Tree branches were out in the middle of the road. Fire hydrants were spurting water everywhere. Fire burned across the acres of land. Buildings had been broken into, with several destroyed. The people were still screaming and running in a futile attempt to escape the ghosts' wrath.

From far away, he was able to spot Wulf, Danielle, and Suki still battling with his future self, and they were basically holding their own for the most part. But Danny knew it wouldn't last long.

He then saw that Tucker was right as ghosts like Ember, the Lunch Lady, Spectra, etc. were contributing to the damage in the process of smashing through windows, throwing cars, and firing whatever weapons they had at anyone who stood in their way.

_But they're only after me,_ Danny thought to himself, _If they find me, they'll lay off everyone else. Hopefully._

He flew up high into the air and shouted, "Hey! Who's looking for me?"

Danny watched as numerous ghosts on the ground in the air turned to face him, with malevolent smiles on their faces, all wanting a piece of him.

The ghost boy took a deep breath, and then finally stuck the patch to the back of his neck. He would've stuck it to his hand underneath his glove, but he didn't know how to take it off.

After a few seconds, he suddenly felt a surge of energy rush through his entire body. He glowed an eerie green as he felt power excelling inside him. It felt slightly painful, yet very exhilarating.

After a few more seconds, the pain subsided, but Danny Phantom felt a much higher level of power within him. And his body still glowed.

By this time, several ghosts had flown up, and were now at the same altitude as the ghost boy.

Skulker grinned as he shouted, "SEIZE HIM!"

In an instant, the ghosts charged, but Danny smiled as he tensed his muscles, and then threw his arms out. As he did, a round green band of energy shot out, striking the ghosts and sending them all backwards.

Skulker growled as a bunch of weapons popped out of his suit. Missiles quickly shot out and towards Danny.

Danny stayed steady as he put his hands together. A long green blast then shot out of them, meeting all the missiles that Skulker had fired, and literally consuming them. The blast and the missiles then disintegrated.

Skulker looked shocked as he called out, "Since when did you get so strong, ghost child?"

Danny answered proudly, "My parents have their moments."

From below, he saw Spectra and Ember charging at him simultaneously. Spectra sent a wave of shadowy energy at him, while Ember strummed her guitar and a giant glowing fist shot out. Both blasts then formed and became a giant shadowy fist.

Thinking fast, Danny quickly remembered what he saw Dan do a little bit ago. He held out his right hand and the fist shot into it, and his hand began to glow black!

Danny couldn't help but say, "Awesome!"

He then joined his left hand with his right, and then shot the blast back with double the force. Both Ember and Spectra were hit hard and driven down to the street.

From behind, many more ghosts charged again, firing whatever weapons they had. But Danny quickly waved his hand and a large green bubble formed around him. Even with the added attacks, the bubble held strong and Danny was completely unscathed.

Danny then had a wild idea. He let his shield drop, and then started flying as fast as he could. Luckily for him the ghosts were all gathered in one group. He began to fly all around the group, picking up speed until he finally reached a blistering one hundred and fifty miles per hour.

As he flew circles around them, a swirling shape began to stretch down from the sky, and began to engulf the stunned ghosts as it reached the ground.

Danny kept flying, allowing the ghostly tornado to swirl all around the ghosts, leaving them helpless inside while they screamed wildly. He then smiled to himself and thought, _Man, this is cool._

After a few more moments of flying, Danny finally came to an abrupt stop. The tornado stuck around for a few seconds, and then began to die down as the ghosts were thrown out in different directions. They went flying through the air like rag dolls before landing hard in several parts of the city.

Finally the tornado died down entirely and the last of the ghosts fell to the ground.

Not one of them got up. They were finished.

Danny smiled at this, but his smile quickly vanished as he heard a cold voice behind him say, "Such devastating power. It's magnificent to behold, isn't it, Danny?"

The ghost boy spun around and saw the evil Dark Danny floating in mid-air at least fifteen feet away from him. He apparently had waited until the tornado had stopped before flying over to him.

Seeing who wasn't there, Danny asked roughly, "Where are Wulf, Danielle, and Suki? And Valerie? What have you done with them?"

"Those pests?" Dan retorted with a snort, "I took care of them."

He then pointed down to the ground below them. An ectoplasmic band held Dani's wrists and legs to the ground like chains. Another band wrapped around Wulf's neck like his old collar and bound him to the ground as well. A third band held Suki down the same way as Dani. And a fourth band bound Valerie to the side of Fenton Works, but this one was a different color. Her suit was gone.

Dan explained, "That particular band eliminates any anti-ghost weaponry that she has. I saw her running out of the building and quickly fired it when she wasn't looking.

Danny snarled fiercely at this.

Dan smirked as he said, "Looks like Mommy and Daddy got lucky with the power boosters again."

Danny scowled as he barked, "This ends now."

"Strong words from a little brat, the way I see it."

"I'm not the one who's destroying everything in sight in order to get rid of me."

"Even with that stupid patch I saw on your neck, do you honestly think your power is at a high enough level to defeat me?"

"I beat the ghost king with the ecto-skeleton when he had the crown and the ring. And if this patch works in any way like the ecto-skeleton did…I'd say that the score is even now."

Phantom powered a purple ghost ray and he asked daringly, "Do you want to put that to the test?"

Danny powered his own green ghost ray in his hands as he responded in a cold and quiet tone full of determination for rescuing the people, and hatred for the malevolent ghost that floated in front of him.

"Let's do this."

_Boo-yah! What a chapter that was! An understanding between Danny and Valerie, a heart-felt talk between Danny, Sam, Tucker, and Jazz, and some kick-butt action courtesy of the Fentons' new gadget!_

_But now, everything comes together! It's Danny versus his future self in a one-on-one high-stakes brawl to the finish! The Fenton Patch may be Danny's only hope, but will it do him justice? Or will Dan's extreme power doom our favorite ghost boy? Stay tuned for the exciting chapter 17!_


	17. Two Phantoms

_Hey, guys! Hey, I am really sorry for the long wait. I had time on my hands, but I had an encounter with writer's block. Thinking of what to type for this chapter was HARD. But since I was home all day, I was able to find time and thoughts to write this for you. Oh, and don't you all dare forget to tune in to "Phantom Phreeze" tonight at 8:00! Can't wait!_

_Here it is! Chapter 17 is here!_

**Phantom Prophecy**

**Chapter Seventeen: Two Phantoms**

Both ghosts fired their ghost rays at the same time, colliding in mid-air and hanging there for a few seconds. Eventually, a relatively small explosion went off in mid-air, sending up thick black smoke.

Fueled by adrenaline, Danny wasted no time, diving straight into the smoke towards Dan.

But when he got through, Dan wasn't on the other side of it.

Quickly sensing motion, Danny spun around and saw Dark Danny swinging his fist at him. But with lightning fast reflexes, Danny managed to duck the blow. He then kicked out, knocking his future self backward.

Looking unfazed, Dan sneered, "Better enjoy it now, Danny. That's the only blow you're going to land."

He then charged up ectoplasmic energy in his arms, which looked something like lightning. Danny watched as Dan then raised his arms up above his head, and then swung them down.

As he did, sparkling streaks of energy shot towards Danny. He quickly flew out of the way, but he was shocked to see the streaks giving chase!

Danny grumbled, "Yeah, I should've known that would happen."

He then picked up speed, expertly avoiding the streak as it followed him.

While Danny was flying around the area, Dan was clearly enjoying himself as he fired one purple ghost ray after another. Danny was forced to dodge those attacks as well, which he was able to do.

Danny was feeling out of rhythm so far, as he knew that he couldn't get hit too many times, but he was finding it impossible at the moment to strike back with the streak of energy still chasing and Dan still firing.

Finally he produced the protective bubble that he had used moments ago. Fortunately for him, the streak struck the bubble and died down right there. But he turned and saw Dan charging towards him, glowing purple.

Phantom struck the bubble, which then started to glow purple as well. After a few seconds, the shield shook for a few seconds, and then broke apart, leaving Danny floating in mid-air and feeling dazed.

Dark Danny took this opportunity and delivered a teeth-smashing punch to Danny's face, knocking him for a loop downward until he hit the ground, bouncing along it before stopping in a field.

Danny groaned as he got up. With one hit, he already was hurting.

Dan looked down upon the young ghost boy and said, "You're only fooling yourself, brat. We both may have the power, but you don't have the experience with it."

Danny quickly barked back, "Sometimes experience doesn't level up with will!" Then he quickly jumped up and flew through the air towards Dan. He then raised his arms up, and then smacked them both together.

At this, a small sonic wave was sent directly at Dan. It went through him and he was shaken up a bit by the attack. Danny then flew towards Dan while he was stunned and gave him a roundhouse kick between the shoulder blades. He was knocked backward.

Danny then fired a ghost ray at his enemy, but Dan had already recovered as he easily dodged the blast.

Danny scowled at this, and then smiled as he had another idea.

Just as he had done with the ghosts moments ago, Danny began to fly at top speed in circles around Dan. And again, a ghostly tornado began to swirl down from the sky.

But Dan didn't flinch. He started to fly circles around the tornado, but in the opposite direction! As a result, the tornado began to come apart at the seams with both ghosts' speed canceling each other out. The tornado disappeared because of that.

The two of them stopped flying, now afloat in mid-air at least a hundred feet from each other.

Danny scowled at his opponent. Dan put on an evil smile.

_I know I can win,_ Danny thought to himself during this brief cease-fire. _I just have to find some way to get past his attacks. I may have to take a hit, but that's probably the only way I can get in there._

Danny then glared at Dark Danny, and a fast pair of beams shot out of his eyes. But again, Dan didn't flinch as he held out his right hand and absorbed the blow. He then switched the power to his left hand, and fired back.

But Danny kept his poise as he flew towards Phantom, expertly dodging the attack.

As the young ghost boy approached him, the older ghost shot his fist out, but at the last second, Danny leaned back, and the punch only just missed him and caught air instead. Danny quickly fired a ghost ray from close up that hit hard, knocking him backwards.

Dan brushed himself off and complimented, "Well, I'm impressed. Maybe you won't be a total pushover after all."

Danny did not feel complimented by this remark. He knew that Dan was still trying to psyche him out, to make him believe that he didn't have a chance. But he knew that he did.

Dark Danny then raised his arms high and gave started to grunt as lightning-like energy shot down from the swirling sky and began to power up in his arms.

Knowing his foe was readying himself for a huge attack, Danny knew he had to attack now during the wait. He charged forward, giving Dan a hard kick in the stomach. Dan stumbled backward but was still completely concentrated on the energy building up in his arms.

Danny fired a pair of eyebeams that hit Dan in the chest. Dark Danny winced for a second, but kept charging until he opened his eyes, as his arms were completely engulfed in green light.

The half-ghost gasped as Dan said coldly, "You know, it is true that lightning strikes twice in the same place."

He then swung his arms down, and lightning formed from ectoplasmic energy began to scatter in all directions, mostly towards Danny.

Without a lot of room, Danny was forced to move with his own lightning speed as he attempted to dodge the lightning raining down on him. He dodged the first few, but it became too much as they began to overcome him. Danny was hit several times and felt painful shocks course through him.

Finally, he couldn't take it any longer. He dropped like an apple to the ground, hitting only pavement.

Danny groaned softly as he got up again, but very slowly. His defense was weakening. He didn't know how many more hits he could take before Dan could eventually get the better of him.

"What's the matter?" a cold voice asked him.

Danny looked up and saw Dan floating above him, saying, "Running out of gas?"

At this point, Danny was looking weary when it came to energy. He still had a lot of power courtesy of the patch, but he knew that unless he could successfully dodge nearly all of Dan's next attacks, he would likely be forced to change back from the pain because he took twice the usual damage.

As for Dan, he didn't really look any different than when the fight had first started. He also had the power, and the endurance to keep going for much longer when it came to the amount of hits dealt to him. The Crown of Fire and the Ring of Rage were both doing him justice offensively and defensively.

Dan quickly fired his own pair of eyebeams at Danny. But he quickly phased into the ground and out of sight. The beams instead struck the ground and broke up a small section of the concrete.

Phantom gave a cold chuckle as he said, "Oh, you want to play hide and seek, huh?"

From behind him, Danny started to glow green as he grabbed hold of a huge tree. With his strength increased, he began to lift up the tree off the ground. He pulled harder and harder as it came up off the ground!

Danny flew the tree in his arms over to Dan, who was still looking the other way.

He thought this seemed too easy, but he chose not to argue with the situation as it was. He swung the tree downward at Dan as fast as he could…only to watch as Dark Danny made himself intangible, causing the tree to pass through him and fall to the ground.

Danny sighed, "Yeah. I should've seen that coming."

Dan turned around and sneered with a slight frown, "A tree, Danny? I would've thought you'd be a little more creative than that."

Danny quickly realized that he was right about that. The tornado that he had created using his own speed: that was creative. Dan charging green lightning from the swirling sky: that was creative. Him picking up a tree and swinging it at Dan: that was not creative; it was extremely easy to avoid.

Just then, Dark Danny fired a ghost ray at the ghost boy. Danny quickly dodged it and flew towards his opponent. He then wound his fist and aimed it at his face.

But Dan quickly reached out and grabbed Danny's fist, and began shocking him, just as Vlad had done to him quite a while ago. After a few seconds of this, he let Danny drop to the ground.

Danny groaned as he slowly turned over onto his stomach. He ached everywhere.

At this point, he knew he had two options: keep the patch on his neck and hope that his own increased power could somehow turn the tide but still be hit with double the force, or get rid of it and boost his endurance but leave his power severely out of league with Dan's.

Dan flew down onto the ground a few feet from Danny and said sinisterly, "Game's over, little boy."

He then rose up his foot over Danny's head. Danny looked up and saw what was coming. As his foot came down, Danny's arms quickly shot up like bullets and grabbed Dan's foot. He then swung Dan over his head and onto the ground.

"On the contrary," Danny grunted as he got up, "This game is heading to overtime."

Dan gave a frustrated growl as he sent a band of ectoplasm at Danny. It wrapped around his ankles. Dan then swung him the other way and threw him hard. Danny flew through the air and landed in a grove of trees.

For the time being, Danny remained there, hoping to at least regroup for a minute or so.

After at least twenty seconds, he heard a loud bang and a few pieces of tree bark fell down on top of his head. Danny turned his head up and saw Dan's malevolent face in an empty space.

"Do you mind?" Danny snarled, "I'm trying not to be killed here." He then fired a ghost ray at him, but Dan quickly moved some of the leaves together in front of his face. The ray hit them and destroyed them, but Dan was unscathed.

At this, Danny flew through the branches, hoping to attack Dan from a blind side.

But he heard a noise. He turned around and spotted Dan following him. Apparently he had broken through the leaves after he had left the area.

Dan then fired his eyebeams at the ghost boy, but he quickly jumped up and grabbed onto a branch above him. And without even realizing it, Danny swung himself up in front of the branch, then let go. He flipped once through the air and landed right back on the higher branch without attempting to fly once.

Both of them looked aghast at this, with Danny just saying, "I don't even know how I did that."

Now feeling immensely frustrated, Dan began firing one set of eyebeams after another. But Danny expertly jumped from branch to branch, leaving the beams to pierce through the leaves and making large gaps in them.

Finally, after one set of beams was fired, Danny projected a rectangular shield in front of him. The beam hit that and bounced back, hitting Dan and knocking him down. He then bounced down through the grove, hitting a bunch of branches before finally falling out of the trees and landing on the ground.

Dan looked up and spotted Danny flying down through the branches at him. He then fired a ghost ray from both hands. But Dan quickly formed a dome around himself and was unaffected as the rays hit it.

Danny kept flying as he dropped the dome, but his foe quickly punched him hard, knocking him into the tree trunk. He slid down it and groaned.

Dan glared at the ghost boy. He did not look amused anymore. He now looked angry and ruthless. He then stated, "You just don't know when to quit, do you, you little brat? You're like a little insect. You're weak, you're worthless, and you just keep coming back, no matter how many times you get squashed."

But Danny did not respond. He just glared at Dan in hate as he staggered back to his feet.

He then took a deep breath as he opened his mouth…but Dan quickly slapped his hand over his mouth and sneered, "Not this time, Danny. Fool me once and all that jazz."

Dark Danny then slammed Danny against the ground, holding him there.

The ghost boy groaned as Dan held him tight. He tried to phase through him, but Dan's hands glowed purple and he couldn't get away. And with Dan's hand still clamped over his mouth, he couldn't blow him away with his ghostly wail.

Thinking fast, Danny fired his pair of eyebeams at his opponent and it hit him, causing his grip on Danny to weaken slightly.

It was enough for Danny to squirm out of Phantom's grasp. He then turned back towards him and fired a ghost ray, but Dan easily dodged it as he flew upward, away from the trees.

Danny watched as he flew up high, and then shot back down to the ground like a rocket, swinging his fists up as he approached the ground, and then swung them down into the ground when he reached it.

Just as at least an hour ago, the whole ground began shaking violently beneath Danny's feet. Danny felt his own bones vibrating as he was shaken on the ground. Again, long cracks began to run across the ground, crippling anything above them that they went through.

One unfortunately ran underneath Danny's feet, forcing him to fall down. The shaking stopped as Dan stepped towards Danny and kicked him on the ground, knocking him into a crevice and wedging him in between it.

Danny struggled to get out of there, but he could hardly even move inside the crevice. He looked up and saw Dan fire a ghost ray at him. It hit and Danny felt his current pain intensify. He tried to fire his eyebeams, but only sparks came out of his eyes. He tried to go intangible, but Dan then gripped the ground next to him. The interior of the crevice began to glow purple and Danny couldn't phase through it.

Again Danny opened his mouth and took a deep breath, but again Dan clamped his hand over his mouth, stopping the ghostly wail attempt.

"Face facts, Danny," Dan spoke mercilessly, "You're out of strength, out of surprises, and out of time. There's nothing else you can do."

He then grabbed one piece of the ground with one hand, and then took his hand off Danny's mouth and grabbed another piece with his other.

Danny tried to use his ghostly wail now, but he felt as though his lungs were constricted and he couldn't do anything.

Dan then grunted as he began to slowly pull both sides together, with Danny still in between them!

Danny was horrified as he thought to himself, _Oh, man! He's gonna squish me! And with no way for me to get out of here…I guess that's it. I'm sorry, everyone. I'm sorry I let all of you down. And Mom, Dad, Jazz, Sam, Tucker…I just hope that…_

_**BAM!**_

Danny looked up in shock as Dan was suddenly hit by a green beam and knocked down the road. At this, the ground that trapped Danny stopped glowing green, and he was able to phase out of the ground.

He turned and saw, to his amazement, Sam, Tucker, Jazz, Jack, and Maddie running towards him.

Danny groaned slightly and muttered, "And they say _I'm_ stubborn."

Maddie cried, "Jack, the ghost boy!"

"No!" Jazz quickly screamed, "Uh, get that bigger one! He's the threat!"

"Yeah," Sam went along with her, "He's been destroying the town for the last couple hours, remember?"

Danny spoke, "She's right. You saw him attacking everyone."

Jack and Maddie still looked skeptical but Maddie then agreed, "You're right. We'll take him down."

The six of them then turned to Dan, who was now floating up in the air.

He smiled, "Well, well, well. Isn't this a familiar scenario? Everybody I used to care about gathered in one location." He then turned to Danny and sneered, "You know, I was just going to destroy you, but I think I have a better idea."

Dark Danny then waved his hand, and a ghost portal suddenly opened up, which led to the Ghost Zone.

He then pointed towards the group and called out, "Go!"

Just then, five ghosts that Danny recognized as Walker's goons shot through the portal. Before any of them knew it, they had fired their nightsticks at them, and they all hit Sam, Tucker, Jazz, Jack, and Maddie, trapping their hands and legs together! They then fired again, and wads of green goo appeared on their mouths, keeping them from speaking.

Danny gasped, "NO!"

He quickly flew towards them, but Dan appeared in front of him and said, "Not another step, Danny."

Danny snapped, "What are they doing here anyway? I got rid of all the ghosts!"

"I sent them to the Ghost Zone just in case a situation like this arose. And what do you know? It has. How lucky for me."

Danny growled furiously, "What are you doing?"

"Oh, it's quite simple, Danny. I plan to go back to what I had planned when the two of us first met. You see, if everyone you care about is gone, then the original timeline will be restored. You will turn into me, and the future of the world will be in ruins."

"No," Danny snarled, "It's not going to happen. I'm not going to become you. I know what once lied ahead for me, and I know how not to become it."

"Well, we're just going to have to test that, won't we?"

He then turned to the ghosts and commanded, "Destroy them. Now."

"NO!" Danny roared.

_Okay, I have two things to say. First, phew! That chapter took so much effort to get done. And second, DUN DUN DUN! Shades of "The Ultimate Enemy" appear in this situation, huh?_

_What is Danny to do now? Everyone he cares for is trapped. How can he get them out of trouble? Will he defeat Dark Danny in the tired condition that he's in? Find out in Chapter 18! I'm thinking that to be the last chapter, but there might be another following it. Ta-ta!_


	18. Give and Take

_What's up, guys? Hey, I am REALLY sorry for the long wait, my excitement for this fic grew a bit stale over the last few weeks, and I'm currently focusing on a new one that I recently had an inspiration for. This will be the last chapter, just so you all know._

_Gear up for a wild finish! The concluding Chapter 18 is here! And Happy Halloween, everybody!_

**Phantom Prophecy**

**Chapter Eighteen: Give and Take**

Thinking fast, Danny recalled the pair of earthquakes that Dan had created and had an idea of his own. He raised his fists up, and then slammed them down onto the ground.

Just as before, the ground around the two of them began shaking. Phantom, who had been standing at this point, was shaken by this and the straps that held Sam, Tucker, Jazz, Maddie, and Jack in place shook as well.

Once again, cracks formed in the ground, spreading out just as Walker's goons fired red nightsticks at the trapped people.

But at that moment, a crack suddenly formed underneath the three teens plus Danny's parents, dropping them inside the ground, leaving the shots to miss them.

Quickly noticing the opportunity in front of him, Danny flew past Dark Danny, still wobbly from the earthquake, and sent out a long band of ectoplasmic energy. It struck all of the ghosts and knocked them away.

Danny then turned around grunted at Dan, "This is between you and me! I'm the only one who has a chance to stop you."

His evil self calmly folded his arms and said with a sneer, "Give me an excuse."

"How about I give you this instead?"

And before anyone could stop him, Danny took a deep breath, and unleashed his mighty ghostly wail, praying that it would be enough to end the ordeal.

Just like that, powerful waves of energy were thrown out everywhere. Walker's goons were blown backward as the power passed through them. Dan quickly created a protective bubble around himself, but it wasn't quite enough to shield him completely. It came apart and Dark Danny was sent tumbling backwards.

Danny kept up the wail for as long as he could, until finally, he couldn't keep it up. He stopped the wail and collapsed to his knees, and then gave a gasp as a pair of rings passed through him, transforming him back into Danny Fenton.

Unluckily for him, Jack and Maddie's heads were still poked out of the ground, and they saw the transformation right before their eyes. Frantic thoughts ran through their heads but couldn't be spoken. They could only just look at each other in shock.

Danny gave a deep sigh. He was worn out. He doubted he still had enough energy provided by the Fenton Patch to go ghost again, and even if he did, the chance of him beating Dan was still up in the air. All he could hope for was that the ghostly wail had done enough.

Still, Danny couldn't help but not be surprised as Dan walked slowly towards him, a few bruises on him, but they didn't look like anything that could prevent him from fighting a while longer.

Dan smirked, "Ran out of gas, I see?"

Danny panted but did not respond as Dark Danny reached down and grabbed him by his collar, then lifting him up into the air.

He then spoke feebly, "This isn't over."

Dan rolled his eyes and responded, "Oh, come on now, brat. This isn't some little fairy tale where the hero triumphs over the bad guy. This is real life. The most powerful one wins, and the least powerful one loses and dies. That's you."

Danny gave a low growl and replied, "Someone will stop you. It may not be me, but it will be someone."

"I thought you just said you were the only one who could stop me."

Danny had an intense look on his face, but it faded as Dan said this. He knew that his future self was right. It was what the prophecy had told him. He was the world's only chance. And from what had just occurred, he knew that those he cared about wouldn't be safe, no matter what happened. If he didn't stop his future self, who would?

Dan then said to him in a low and cold snarl, "And what made you think you could possibly stop me at all?"

Danny's eyes flashed green as he responded in an equally cold voice, "Something you would never understand."

"And what's that?" Dan responded with malice in his eyes.

Danny closed his eyes for a few seconds, gathering up what he had inside of him, before responding.

"Heart."

And without warning, his eyes opened and a pair of green beams shot out of his eyes and struck Dan by surprise in the face. He dropped Danny and fell backwards.

Danny landed on the ground in a crouching position, and then felt a sudden rush of energy fly through him, fueled by his determination to save those who needed to be saved.

A bright flash went through him, and he had transformed back into Danny Phantom in front of Dan, who looked deeply unnerved at this.

He then scowled and said, "You just don't know when to quit, do you, Danny?"

"You should know more than anyone how stubborn I can be."

Dan growled loudly as he then fired a purple ghost ray at Danny. The ghost boy quickly jumped aside and the blast missed by inches. He then ran towards Dan, his hands glowing green.

Dan, however, was ready. He fired a pair of beams from his eyes as Danny got closer to him.

But Danny was hoping for this. Just as Dark Danny fired, Danny ducked the attack, and then swung his leg and struck his future self right in his right kneecap. Dan winced in a brief moment of pain.

Danny wasted no time as he then swung his fist and popped Dan right in the face. Green blood splashed out of him as he stumbled backwards.

The ghost boy then ran towards his future self and again swung his fist, aiming right for Dan's chest, but Dan had now recovered as he shot his hand out and grabbed hold of Danny's.

Danny struggled to pull his hand free, but Dan then began to twist his hand around in an unnatural manner. He felt his bones cracking as searing pain shot through him. Dan then fired another pair of beams from his eyes and this time they hit, increasing Danny's pain. He then took a big step and threw Danny hard. He slammed right into a telephone pole, and the pain increased again.

Danny cringed as he slowly got to his feet. He was currently on his second wind, and that was only going to last so long. It looked as though his only chance was to remove the Ring of Rage from Dan's finger or remove the Crown of Fire from Dan's head.

Danny looked up and saw Dan flying straight at him with his hands glowing. He stood in place for a few seconds, waiting for just the right moment…

Finally Dan fired a ghost ray at him, but Danny quickly jumped forward and the blast hit the ground behind him. Danny then jumped up and seized his enemy around his legs, pulling him down hard. They both crashed to the ground, with Dan in front of Danny.

With Dan stunned, Danny quickly reached for his hand, located the ring, and pulled. It popped off!

"Not so fast!" Dan snarled as he stuck his hand out and suddenly pulled the Fenton Patch off of Danny's neck!

Dan quickly incinerated the patch in his hand by squeezing it. After jumping away from his opponent, Danny tossed the ring into an open manhole, where it fell down to the bottom.

Both of them felt the increase in power leaving them, resulting in the two of them having the same amount of power as the last time they had faced off.

Dan now smirked as he said, "I may not have the extra strength anymore, but neither do you. And the way I see it, it looks like I still have the advantage."

Danny growled, knowing that Dan was right. In their first meeting, Danny had the element of surprise on his side, which proved to be vital. But this time around, Dan knew of the tricks that Danny had up his sleeve. He couldn't use power to win this time.

A flash of lightning lit up the sky. Danny diverted his eyes upward at the swirling green formations in the sky, and the ectoplasmic lightning that went through it.

An idea struck him.

He then said coolly, "Let's finish this."

Dan fired a ball of energy, this one green, at Danny, but he quickly dodged as Dan then flew at him. He threw a punch at him, but Danny ducked and threw out a punch of his own. Dan blocked the blow and then kicked out. Danny sidestepped it, but Dan spun around and slammed his whole body into him, knocking him away several feet.

Danny stayed on his feet, and then looked up at the sky again. He then fired a ghost ray straight up into the sky, just a few feet away from him.

Dan scoffed and mocked Danny as the blast disappeared into the swirling sky, "What are you, shooting for the heavens?"

Just then, a bolt of ectoplasmic lightning shot straight down and struck Dan, sending a powerful bolt of electricity fused with ectoplasmic energy through his body. He screamed in pain.

Danny had hoped this would happen. Ectoplasmic energy attracted ectoplasmic energy. That had to have been the way the Ghost Zone had first formed. Because he had fired his own energy up into the transformed sky, it had fired back, striking Dan, who was directly below where his blast had disappeared into!

Knowing the perfect opportunity was right here and now, Danny charged straight at Dark Danny as fast as he could as the lightning ceased striking him. He then wound his fist and swung it at Dan with everything he had.

_**BAM!**_

Once again, green blood shot out of him as he fell backwards and down to the ground. The Crown of Fire fell off his head and clattered a few feet away.

Dan groaned slightly and did not get up.

Danny was still far from relaxed as he pulled out a Fenton Thermos and held it towards his foe. A shining blue light came out and encased Dan, sucking him inside. At the same time, the swirling formation in the sky disappeared, revealing the normal nighttime sky, where the stars twinkled brightly.

Finally, Danny closed the cap of the thermos and smiled. It was over. He had won.

"Time out."

In an instant, everything froze in place. Within a swirling time vortex, the elderly visage of Clockwork appeared, holding a medallion with the picture CW engraved into it.

He placed it around Danny's neck, and within a few seconds, Danny blinked and gasped slightly, "Clockwork?"

Clockwork smiled as he became an infant, "Well done, young man. You've done it."

Danny gave a small chuckle as he shook his head, "You knew this was going to happen, didn't you."

"Every bit of it."

"So…why did you freeze time on me?"

"Not everything worked out the way you wanted it to, did it, Danny?"

Danny's face fell as he turned back to the thin crater that still held his family and friends. His parents had found out his secret. Sure, this had happened before and they had accepted him. But he didn't want them to know unless he told them.

Clockwork then said gently, "It's what you deserve."

Before Danny could respond, Clockwork spun his staff around a few times, and the two of them disappeared.

* * *

"Danny? Danny? Time to wake up."

Danny's eyes fluttered open, and he took notice of Sam and Tucker in front of him.

Sam smiled, "Morning, sleepyhead."

Danny yawned as he sat up and looked around. He was in the living room of his house.

He then looked around, "What happened?"

Tucker responded, "The whole town's buzzing." He turned on the TV and added, "Check it out."

A news report was on, and Tiffany Snow was reporting, "Another major ghost crisis has finally come to an end in Amity Park, and most describe this as the biggest yet. Of course, most surprising is the witnessed halting of the horror by the ghost boy, Danny Phantom. While the identity of who the attack originated from is unknown, Phantom was able to put him away."

Tucker turned it off as Sam said, "In short, town's saved, and you're the hero again."

"And my parents," Danny whispered, "Do they know?"

Tucker looked puzzled as he responded, "They didn't see you transform, if that's what you mean."

"But I…I mean, I thought…never mind."

The phone rang.

Danny quickly reached for the phone and answered it, "Hello?"

"Danny?" It was Valerie.

"Oh, um, hey, Val. What's up?"

"Nothing. Just calling to say…nice job yesterday. I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you."

Danny gave a small and unexpected chuckle, "Hey, thanks. That…that means a lot."

"Yeah."

"So…I guess I'll see you around, then?"

"Yeah, I guess," Valerie responded with a chuckle of her own.

"Okay. Bye."

"Bye."

Danny smiled as he hung up the phone.

Tucker then asked him, "Dude, you feeling okay?"

Danny gave a big sigh and responded, "Yeah. I feel fine."

Sam smiled, "We were afraid, Danny. Afraid we were going to lose you."

"I appreciate that. But I wasn't going to let you guys go over a matter that involved only me. I was afraid I was going to lose you guys too. But I didn't. No one lost anybody."

"Thanks to you," Sam said warmly.

Danny smiled as they engaged in a three-person hug. As they hugged, Danny looked out the window of his house and thought to himself, _Thanks, Clockwork. For the info. For the secret-keeping. For everything.

* * *

_

And in his lair, the middle-age Clockwork smiled as he watched the touching moment on a screen in front of him.

He then turned to the screen with the paper that contained the prophecy. He then grinned as the paper tore itself in half, before it faded away completely.

_**The End**_

_That's it! It's all over, ya'll! Man, that was fun to write! Well, you all know the drill. Read, review, and in your reviews, rank this fic out of 10. I'm curious._

_Well, for now, as I've said, I have inspiration for a new fanfic. But it may be on something that isn't Danny Phantom. Should be coming in early to mid-November, but we'll see._

_For now, JK rulez is signing off!_


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